


What Makes You Free

by Illusionna, Lydjachan



Series: Nurturing Flame [3]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Harm to Children, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-11-02 13:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10945545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illusionna/pseuds/Illusionna, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lydjachan/pseuds/Lydjachan
Summary: Eliza trusted her daughter to the Hamato clan but when things go wrong Phoenix and her children race to save young Gwynevere's life. Three families will meet and put aside their differences long enough to survive a squirrly foe. But will the truce last as secrets are dragged into the light?





	1. Chapter 1

##  **John 8:32  -** And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

She was roused by an insistent melody that she had trained herself over the past few weeks not to ignore. The strains of ‘Kung Foo Fighting’ led her through the unfamiliar space with it’s filtered light that at the same time illuminated and cast strange shadows, both helping and hindering her efforts to navigate the hall. Somewhere in her mind she registered that the room was occupied and eyes were falling upon her but nothing mattered beyond reaching the song’s source before it stopped.

With barely a moment to lose Eliza retrieved her phone from the bathroom counter and swiped to answer the call. Her daughter’s frantic voice began relaying information before she even had a chance to say hello.

“Gwyn. Honey. Calm down.” She said sluggishly as her brain tried to fully awaken in order to process the jumbled information.

“I wanna come home!! I don’t care what Donnie says. My stomach hurts and I swear there is… is fur in my mouth no matter how many times I rinse it out!!” Gwyn’s voice modulated from whining to frantic. Once the girl got into this kind of state there was no way she was going to get any real information out her.

Now fully awake and switched into crisis management mode Eliza took control of the conversation.

**Step One: Calm Down**

“Ok. Just relax. Take a big breath for me. On my count.” She led Gwynevere through a short cycle of breathing exercises till she could hear her child’s ragged breaths slow and take on a more steady rhythm. However she could still hear sniffles and a the occasional pathic hiccup over the line.

**Step Two: Gather Info**

Eliza momentarily took the phone away from her face and saw that it was April’s flower crowned image on the caller ID. “Is April there with you?”

“Unn hunn.”

“Give her the phone.”

“Kay.” The ferret’s mom’s heart broke with the soft defeated answer. Gwyn had to be extremely upset not to try to comment any further before turning over the call.

“Hi Mrs. V.” The girl sounded nervous and slightly winded.

“April,” her voice was full of command, the type of tone that even willful teens, really was there any other kind, knew not to trifle with. “What happened? Is Gwyn ok?” The mom didn’t disbelieve that Gwyn was upset but needed to verify that the cause was large enough to warrant real concern.

“We ran into a little bit of trouble. But Gwyn is fine,” she could hear the teen debating over the amount of information to divulge over the phone. “or she will be soon. Donnie said that there isn’t really anything to do but let things run their course. And it’s better if we don’t bring the…”

The pause made her blood boil. April was trying to phrase whatever she was trying to say diplomatically and what Eliza needed right now was facts.

“…contamination back to lair and handle in down here.”

If the mother wasn’t worried before she was beside herself now. “Let me talk to Donnie.”

“He’s… kinda occupied at the moment.” April drawled, it sounded as if she had taken the time to look around her before deciding that Donatello could not be spared for a phone call.

“Put Splinter on the line.” Eliza practically growled. She was not happy at all now.

This time April didn’t hesitate. “He’s busy too.” Clearly whatever ‘trouble’ they had run into had not yet been dealt with.

**Step Three: Be Decisive**

There was nothing Eliza could do. She was too far away. She had trusted them to keep her daughter safe and, though it sounded like they were trying to handle the situation, it was obvious they had failed. Gwyn was sick and there was a fight going on that required Splinter and the boys to handle it.

“April. You listen to me. You get Gwyn out of there right now and bring her back to the lair.”

“But, Donnie said…”

“I don’t CARE what Donnie said.” Eliza nearly yelled. “I don’t care if you have to drive the shellraiser by yourself. I don’t care if you have to carry her the whole way. You get my daughter home. Now.”

“But Mrs. V. you don’t understand…” April tried to reason but the ominous beeping of a low battery alert sounded in the ferret’s ear. She didn’t have time to argue.  

“Get her home April. I’m trusting you. Put Gwyn back on.” Though Eliza was confident in her ability to intimidate the girl she still waited with baited breath till she could hear Gwyn sniffing, trying to dry her tears long enough to talk.

“Momma.”

“It’s ok hunny. You’re coming back. April is gonna bring you home.” The concerned mom had to choke back tears of her own before continuing. The incessant beeping heralding the phone’s imminent demise continued. “I’ll be waiting for you ok. We’ll make it all better. Promise.”

“Pinki…” The chime of the phone shutting down cut off any further conversation.

“Pinkie Promise.” Eliza responded to the dead air. For a weighted moment she just stood there in the bathroom, panic threatening to overwhelm her before she shut it down. The ferret then became a whirlwind of activity, returning to the living room to collect her backpack. Once there she found Phoenix and her children looking at her with questioning concern. There wasn’t time for her to say pleasant goodbyes. To make further arrangements. To express her gratitude.

“I have to go.” she stated simply and slung her pack over her shoulder, ready to make a hasty exit.

* * *

It had not taken Eliza long to fall asleep after resting on the couch, and seeing her there, with her long neck tilting to one side, and her hand resting gently on her belly, made Phoenix smile.  It reminded her slightly of Thanksgivings with her mother’s family, and after everyone had stuffed themselves with good food, one of her aunts would go to the couch and do exactly what Eliza was doing now, in a very similar position.  The thought made her giggle. **  
**

“What’s so funny?” Aires asked coming up the stairs.  He was shooshed quickly by his mother.  He made his mouth in the shape of “O” and then whispered, “What’s so funny?”

“My first houseguest falling asleep on my couch,” she told her son.

“Aww, she looks all peaceful,” Aries squinted his eyes as he smiled, too.  “Is she really going to have a baby?” he asked, sounding awfully young to her ears.

His mother nodded, her loose hair shaking slightly.  “Yep.”

“Wow,” Aries shook his head in wonder.  “That’s so weird.”

Phoenix shook her head in return.  “No,” she said.  “Life will always find a way.”

“You’re quoting Jurassic Park,” he told her.

“No honey,” she told him with a wink, “Jurassic Park was quoting me.  Go get your brother and sister, the cobbler is ready to eat.”

“They can wait,” Aries said, heading toward the kitchen table.  “Arcos said he got to eat a bunch of that salmon salad at lunch without us.”

“You ate lunch,” his mother said, hoping she was right.

“It wasn’t salmon salad,” he moped, taking a deep breath now that he was near the cobbler.  Now that he didn’t have to be so polite for company, as she was sleeping,  he didn’t wait for even his mother to come to the cobbler.  With the spatula nearby, he served himself a generous piece.    Phoenix came over and opened her mouth, a well known indication of having to pay “The Mommy Tax.”  He put a forkful of cobbler into her mouth, and with his own mouth full, said, “Why don’t you get your own?”

“I’m not hungry enough for an entire piece,” she said.

“You need to eat more,” he told her.  “You’re too skinny.”  He shoveled another spoonful of dessert into his mouth.

She clucked her tongue at him, and waved him off dismissively.  “Don’t say such things to your mama.”

He put down his plate, now nothing more than smears of peach, and went to fetch his siblings.  They came up the stairs quietly, Medusa without a sound, smiles on their faces, noses in the air.  

Medusa giggled as she passed Eliza, whose nose twitched in her sleep.  “She can smell me,” she whispered as if she was telling a secret.  “I wonder if she’ll dream she is being chased by a snakes.”

“That’s not nice, Medusa,” Phoenix said.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it meanly,” the boa constrictor took her plate.  “It’s cute.”  She flicked her tongue.

“Does she really have someone to go to, Mama?” Arcos asked, his plate already being dug into.

“She says so,” she answered.

“Do you believe her?”

“I have no reason not to,” Phoenix admitted.  “I don’t see why she’d lie about that.”  Her mind drifted back to the explanation that Eliza had given her, a father, with sons, and a human friend.  Something about it unsettled her, and in her mind, the familiar refrain sang, _Consider the floor_.  She brushed the words away.

The four of them were silent for quite a long time, as the entire cobbler was devoured, so that Phoenix had to put away one piece so that Eliza would actually get some.  Through the quiet came the song, “Kung Fu Fighting”.  The four of them looked at each other and laughed, it seemed such an absurd thing, to have the song just drift through the air so suddenly.

Eliza groggily reached out and took her phone, and when her hand didn’t find it, she became more awake.  They watched her make her way to the bathroom, where the song was coming from.  The song stopped, and the next thing they heard was, “Gwyn. Honey. Calm down.”

The happy looks they shared turned to concerned ones.

“Oh, ‘calm down’ is never good,” Aries said.

“Like you talk to people on the phone and tell them to calm down?” Arcos gave him a crazy look.

“No, I talk to people in real life and tell them to calm down,” his brother answered.

“Who do you ever tell to the calm down?” Arcos countered.  “Other people are telling you to calm down.”

“Chut!” Phoenix demanded, the initial worry of Aries, ‘that can’t be good’ tone of voice slowly deepening into something more panicky.   When Eliza came out of the bathroom, she was all business.   “I have to go.”

“Is everything alright?” Medusa asked.

“What’s the matter?” Phoenix asked at the same time.

“Do you need help?” Arcos asked, his grizzly voice an undertone flowing beneath the females of his family.

But of the questions, it was practical Aries who won out.  “Do you know how to get back?” he asked.

* * *

She had already anticipated that there would be questions, it didn’t change the fact that she didn’t have time for them. Eliza was already in the middle of turning away to make towards the door when Aries’ query floated above the din of his mother and siblings. It hit her like a two ton weight and pinned her in place. Her eyes wide she twisted her neck back to face the group. **  
**

“No, no, nonononono…” her voice went frantic with realization. “It took me hours to get here this morning and I got lost along the way. I don’t have that kind of time!” Her body felt limp with helplessness and the pack slid from her shoulder as she wavered slightly where she stood. Before she could blink Medusa was at her side, a supporting coil around her middle and a comforting hand on her arm.

Having the snake in such close proximity was like a slap in the face and she stiffened, but it also served to pull her out of her panic. By the time the rest of the family had crossed the room join them Medusa was already loosening her coils and pulling away. Eliza was trying to calm her increased heart rate and think through her situation for a solution. She looked at the snake girl to find that she could read a hint of embarrassment across her scaly features.

“I’m ok. Thanks.” she said quietly to Medusa before turning to face the rest of the family as they gathered around. Phoenix came forward and took her hand, forcing Eliza to look her in the face with a soft touch on the side of her muzzle.

“What happened?” she asked with a tone that conveyed that she expected an answer.

“It’s Gwyn. She’s scared. She needs me.” Eliza waffled for a moment about how much to say. Then decided that she didn’t care. “They were suppose to keep her safe. I trusted them.” She held back the emotion that threatened to crash over her like a tidal wave. There would be time for that later when her daughter didn’t need her, when she didn’t have to be strong, when Gwyn was safe. “My phone died, so I couldn’t get all the details, it seemed like they were still in the middle of a fight, but something happened to Gwyn. Some kind of contamination or infection. She said it was her stomach and she was panicking.”

The healer dropped the hand from the ferret’s face and tucked it under her own small chin, looking contemplative. Eliza turned to the boys. “They didn’t want to bring her home for some reason. But I made them promise me that they would. I have to get back to the lair, I don’t know how far away they were but I need to get there as fast as I can. I promised my daughter I would be there.”

She scanned the faces around her, unfamiliar with their nuances but able to tell that all of them were willing to help her. Her heart was heavy, she had already let Splinter down by revealing herself, she knew now just how important that principal was to a mutant. If she was going to get home quickly she would have to break that unwritten rule further. The rat-master had trusted her with his family’s secret and she had trusted him with her child’s safety. It appeared that they were now mutually disappointed. No sense in splitting hairs about it.

“Get me to Chinatown.”

* * *

Phoenix put her hand to her chin, her mind abuzz with a thousand different thoughts.  She could see Eliza on the verge of true panic, she’d snapped out of it when Medusa had caught her, worked herself up again, and snapped out of it when the healer had asked what happened.   The ferret woman was capable of staying calm if she had someone to keep her so, Phoenix surmised. **  
**

She didn’t know how to get back to her home, and her host did not want anyone knowing where his home was.  Phoenix didn’t blame him one bit, no one besides the Grey Cats knew where she lived.  No one but her family knew where the Grey Cats lived.  Her host would not take lightly to a bunch of strange people showing up in his place.

She was able to catch onto the word “infection”, grab it with a mental hand and hold on tight, causing the other thoughts to fly by her at a blinding speed.    Infection was a thing she could do something about.  Angry hosts were also.  Her self-assigned job was to help people, strangers or friends.  And she would help her new friend.

“We’ll get you there,” she assured Eliza, smiling soothingly.

At that statement, all three kids scattered, each going to the wall where their weapons were stowed, and retrieving the ones that belonged to them.

Phoenix took Eliza’s arm, and still smiling,gently pulled her back toward the kitchen and the garden window.  As she passed her bookshelf, she picked up the bag that lay beside it.  “We can get to Chinatown pretty quick, it isn’t that far in a straight line.”  She put the bag over her shoulder, the large sack swaying gently against her hip.  Still pulling Eliza toward the kitchen, she reached over and took her sling and knife from the wall, putting each in their designated places on her belt.  

“We have to go,” Eliza said, looking back toward the stairwell, and Phoenix could hear the panic rising in her voice again.

“We are going,” she assured her kindly.  “Medusa,” she called, and gestured with her head toward the ferret woman.

In a flash, the snake had coiled the woman up again, this time three times, and no comforting arm about her.  Before the ferret woman could say anything, the snake was out the window with her, and propelling herself across the darkening rooftops.  The boys and their mother were not far behind, following Medusa toward Chinatown.

* * *

The ferret felt one weight lift off of her shoulders only to have another take it’s place. She was beyond relieved and grateful that her new friends were rallying to her aid. Indeed as soon as Phoenix announced their intention to help the family moved as a well oiled machine. Strapping on their weapons and making ready to leave. That she was going to be home in time for her daughter went a long way in pushing aside the guilt she now felt at breaking the trust the Hamatos had put in her. Something that was sure to have ramifications later. **  
**

Eliza took a moment to secure her backpack just in time for Phoenix to take hold of her arm and guide her back towards the kitchen. She saw the healer grab her bag and strap on her weapons, but then stayed by the window instead of heading towards the stairwell. Eliza began to get an ominous feeling, why was everyone coming this way instead of heading downstairs towards the garage? Surely the car would be the fastest way for them to get her back to the lair. The family all knew their parts in this departure dance and Eliza got the idea she wasn’t going to like her role. “We have to go.” She said with trepidation.

Eliza caught the barest hint of a shift in the smaller woman’s eyes towards the window before reassuring the ferret that they were on their way. Eliza’s heart pounded and her eyes bulge with fear, because she had remembered now how the family used that particular window. Oh SHELL no! But she had no time to protest before Medusa had wrapped around her and was out the fourth story exit.

There was three four blocks of silence when Eliza’s mind was stuck in a state of pure shock. Then Medusa made a twisting sort of dive where she was moving from a taller building to one with significantly fewer floors. Eliza felt the dip in her guts and got a glimpse of the distance between buildings to the actual road far below and her brain switched from shocked still to explosive fear. She tried to twist free, to extricate herself from the personal rollercoaster but there was no give. The snake girl was nothing but smooth muscle and the ferret could not get any leverage. With no other way to express the fear that was clawing at the inside of her skull she began to scream.  

Eliza had been a singer most of her life. Her voice was an instrument that she had worked long to utilize to the best of her ability. So even though she was not a star of any stage beyond the choir risers, she had power. Her screaming was loud and long, with an upper register that could be painful if not in tune. The ferret didn’t care about her pitch, only expressing her displeasure at being catapulted through the NYC skyline. It was not a pleasant trip for anyone.

About the third time Eliza had gone to refill her impressive lung capacity her personal transport had had enough. The ferret reached the end of her high pitched scream, the sound trailing off into the night, but before she could take a deep breath the coil around her chest tightened. She had only limited air, not enough to do anything with but keep her body functioning. She tried again but to no avail. Medusa seemed superbly skilled at reading the ferret’s body, giving her just enough room to stave off the feeling of being suffocated but she had to focus and not waste whatever breath she was permitted.

The ferret-woman could only exist in this state for so long before the adrenaline wore off and she gave up fighting. Medusa seemed to sense this as well, all the while never faltering in her movements across the rooftops, and it became easier to breath. A luxury that Eliza didn’t waste on yelling but instead calming herself down. Eventually they reached Chinatown, and buildings began to be familiar, even if she was viewing them from a new angle. She saw the flashing of a neon pizza sign pass underneath them and knew where she was.

“Stop! Stop! We’re here!” She called towards Medusa’s head. Her first intelligible words since the warehouse.

The snake stopped and looked down at Eliza from where she held her body upright. “Where?”

“There.” Eliza jerked her head in the direction they had just come. “In that alley we just passed.” The snake nodded once and was off again but this time Eliza was prepared for it.

Once they had reached the ground the coils were quickly unwound and snake and ferret moved to opposite sides of the narrow space between buildings. Eliza felt the press of a solid wall at her back and slid down it to the ground. Her legs were trembling and all her muscles were twitching with the excess chemicals that had just flooded her system. She dropped her head between her knees and did not raise it again till she heard the sounds of the rest of the family dropping down to join them.

“Well, that may have been quick,” she huffed while looking at the family’s matriarch. “But it was far from pleasant. A little warning would have been nice.” She stretched her neck to it’s fullest, trying to cool herself and rested the back of her head against the brick. “I don’t think I’ll be complaining about sewer travel anytime soon.”

A muffled snicker went through the group and she couldn’t blame them and joined in with a wilted smile of her own.

“Speaking of.” The ferret drew herself back to her feet and walked to the manhole in the center of the alley. “Thanks for the lift but this is my stop.” she smiled a little more genuinely. “I know the way from here”


	2. Chapter 2

Phoenix snickered at Eliza’s newfound appreciation of sewer travel.  Apparently the smell, and what made the smell she guessed, were not as bad as flying through the air being held up by a giant boa constrictor.  As they had traveled, with Medusa in front, Eliza’s high pitched screams had echoed throughout the upper atmosphere of the city, easily reaching the ears of those behind her, even the least sensitive of the group.  Phoenix was afraid, for a few moments, that the ferret woman was going to alert someone below to their presence, but apparently the upper air liked her scream more than the ground level, because she never even saw anyone look up.  However, she’d been relieved when Eliza had finally stopped.   **  
**

When Eliza told them, “This is my stop,” and got back to her feet, Aries lept like a lamb over to the manhole cover, and lifted up effortlessly.  Eliza looked up at him, moving only her neck with a grateful look on her face.

Phoenix walked over to the manhole cover, at first having no issue at all.  But with each step closer to it, her apprehension grew.  She had a great trepidation about the sewer ever since her encounter with the crazy rat man with the big black sun hat.  Rats she could handle.  Sun hats she could handle.  Crazy, she thought she could handle, until she met him.  She dealt with crazy people in the homeless population all the time.  In fact, most of the homeless population was mentally ill, hence their propensity to live on the streets.  And if one wasn’t mentally ill before hand, Phoenix imagined that living with no home in NYC did not lend itself to a healthy mindset.  No, sun hat rat man hadn’t been crazy.  He’d been deranged.  

Aires gestured to the now open hole cover, eyes on Eliza, and said, “Ladies first,” with a wink.  Phoenix and Medusa came to stand beside her, they were ladies too, after all.

The grateful look turned a little confused, and the ferret looked about at the four them uncertainly.  It was obvious in her look that she was debating with herself as to what to do.  Was she now having second thoughts about asking The Children of the Phoenix and their mother to help them?

Arcos, the most emotionally perceptive of her kids, seemed to pick up on it first, just after Phoenix.  Unlike his mother, however, he spoke, “”We can help,” he said.  “You said there was a fight, Mama can help anyone who has been hurt.”

Phoenix nodded, “And if Gwyn has a infection of some kind, I can take care of that too.”  She gestured to Eliza’s arms, “Like I did with you.”  It was only a little falsehood, not entirely a lie.  If her ability would allow her to, she could heal whomever she wanted, fully and without reserve. She’d not been able to do so earlier today with Eliza’s elbows, there were still the brown of almost healed bruises on her fuzzy skin.  Perhaps the golden ants would be more generous with Eliza’s daughter.

Eliza looked conflicted for another moment, her eyes flicking to each of them in turn.  Then,she let out a little nod, moving on her head on her long, sinuous neck, and lowered herself into the manhole.  Phoenix had pat down a small flame of irritation as the ferret used the ladder, her feet hitting each rung, as she made her way down into the underbelly of the city.   _She’s not a fighter,_ Phoenix reminded herself.   _She’s not an athlete.  She’s only been a mutant for a while.  Stop being disagreeable just because she’s taking too long to get down the darn hole._

Once the ferret was down, Phoenix followed, her feet skipping every two rungs as she lowered herself.  In a moment, Medusa, then Arcos, then Aries all dropped to the sewer floor, not using the ladder at all.    Eliza looked at each of them again, and Phoenix could see the nervousness from the warehouse coming back to her.  “This way,” she said, and began walking down the tunnel.  Phoenix was ready to break out into a run again, but while Eliza moved a quick gait, she didn’t break out into  a sprint.  She wasn’t sure if the ferrets speed was due to exhaustion, uncertainty of where she was going, or an attempt to calm down from her worry for Gwyn.  

 _Consider the floor,_ she heard in her head.

She looked down, slightly annoyed at being told to do so at such a time, and almost tripped when she did.  She recognized the patterns of stains and cracks in the concrete.  She recognized the sewer water to the side of her vision.  She recognized the wall on the other side.  How many times had she walked this path in her head while sitting in her gym?  

Then, the dripping reached her ears, which was like a song, sung to her to sooth her nerves.  Only this time, it didn’t, it filled her with foreboding.  As they kept walking, the dripping drowned out all the other sounds in her awareness, their footfalls, their breathing, her heartbeat.  All there was, was the _drip-drip-dripdrip_ of watering falling somewhere.

“I can’t distinguish any smells down here,” she heard Arcos say, but it was far away, and she had trouble catching it to make any meaning out of the words.

 _Get ahold of yourself, woman,_ she said.   _You can’t help anyone if you don’t have it together._  Telling herself that didn’t seem to help much, though.

* * *

 

She felt the gentle trill of pleased amusement flush her cheeks at Aries’ chivalry and gave him a grateful smile that twinkled her eyes. She was almost tempted to return his flirty wink when his words cut through the sentiment just as his mother and sister joined Eliza next to the sewer entrance. She looked around and saw that everyone seemed ready to follow her down into the sewers. That had not been part of her plan, it was bad enough that they now knew the neighborhood where Splinter and the boys lived. This alley in particular, across from Antonio’s, being a common thruway for the pizza loving teens. **  
**

Still she listened as the ram and his mother made their arguments and felt the swelling tingling in the back of her skull that often happened when she recognized truth. She waited for a moment more, for the feeling to go away, for it just to be the imaginings of her own heart in need of comfort, but it did not depart. There was a reason that they should accompany her, unfortunately the specifics were not forthcoming. So with a nod she agreed to their company and headed down the ladder into the sewers.

She always hated the transition from surface to subterranean. She was thankful that she didn’t have an actual tendency towards claustrophobia but the feeling of being enclosed and trapped was tangible on the edges of her already frayed mind. Now she had the added stress of leading her new friends, people whom she would eventually rely heavily on in the future, on a crash course meeting with her current benefactors, who were highly skilled fighters who would not be pleased with the invasion of their home. Yet, she had made her choice and there was no turning back and the weight of it all, along with the worry for Gwyn rested heavily on her soul as she started walking quickly towards the lair.

It was hard not to race towards the lair, to get to Gwyn, but she had to keep eye on the twists and turns of the sewer tunnels. She knew the way, though she rarely traveled it alone, still the last thing she wanted to do now was make a wrong turn. It seemed to be taking longer than it should though and the worried ferret-mom began to fear that’s exactly what she had done.

A last, they came to the final archway before the passage opened up to the abandoned subway tracks.  There she stopped to flick a light switch three times, with no apparent effect, before pressing a hidden buzzer. She didn’t know if Donnie was tapped into the surveillance system at the moment but she hoped that the all clear sequence he had instructed her to use would remind anyone watching that those incoming were friendly. She looked back at the group and jerked her head towards the opening.

“Almost there, just down the tracks.” Everyone made some sort of gesture or noise in acknowledgement. Phoenix however seemed to shake herself before waving a hand to indicate that Eliza should proceed.

The ferret started out with the same pace she had maintained while in the sewers, but little by little her steps became faster, her gait extending. Her companions seemed to take no real notice and easily remained at her side, almost holding themselves back. Then she heard the grind of metal on metal, the clack of wheels bridging the minute spaces between one rail to the next and the screeching of brakes. It was all she needed to be spurred into an all out run. Her frame bent lower and lower till she fell into the hopping gate that her mutated body lent itself to, giving her speed and distance despite it’s lack of finesse and grace.

She saw that Medusa had passed her and taken the point position. Both Aries and Acros were close at her sides, she could sense their mother at her heal. That had effectively boxed her in as they ran, like tractor trailers on the highway and she was the minivan in the middle. They rounded the last corner in this manner and Eliza could see the Shellraiser parked outside the turnstiles. Her heart was pounding as she speed up even more to reach it when Medusa suddenly stopped short. Without thinking she veered to the right to avoid a collision with the snake girl and ended up becoming entangled with her bear brother.

Eliza and Acros somersaulted to a tumbling stop, a tangled pile of limbs and fur. She had the misfortune of ending up underneath his massive frame, pinned to the gravel floor. She quickly regained her bearings and was struggling and wiggling her sinewy body in an attempt to get free while he was still shaking his head to clear it. Soon enough though he raised his upper body in a push-up and she freed herself, taking off without a backward glance to reach the platform.

The doors of the converted subway car had opened and the occupants were spilling out. Donnie was already past the turnstiles with April just completing the jump, both heading in the direction of the lab. Michelangelo  was walking out of the door backwards, his shell blocking her view before Gwyn appeared. Her daughter was struggling and screaming in Splinter’s arms as he attempted to cradle her to his chest while his youngest son was cooing and trying to calm her.  

Eliza stopped and sprung back up on two legs, holding back just long enough for the trio to clear the doorway before advancing on them. “Gwyn, GWYN!! Momma’s here!”

“UGGHHhhh!! It HURTS!” Gwynevere screamed and clawed at her torso. “I can FEEEL… ahhhhh!!”

Eliza could feel the terror wanting to overwhelm her and knew that it showed on her face. She looked up at Splinter to question what was going on when the ‘shing’ of polished metal drew her attention. Looking behind her she saw red and blue masks draped over two shells, bodies held taut and weapons at the ready.

“What the SHELL are they doin’ here!”

* * *

 

The sound of the dripping water, in a familiar and agonizing melody seemed to get louder and louder in her ears the faster and faster the quintet travelled.  The increments in speed were small, they barely needed to be made.  In fact, she noticed that she and her children would anticipate the ferret woman moving a faster rate than she actually did, and have to hold themselves back from overtaking her.  Phoenix wasn’t sure if Eliza was going so slowly to keep herself calm or because she wasn’t sure of the way.   **  
**

The thin veneer of cool-headedness vanished with the sound of the _clickity-clack-clickity-clack_ of a railway car coming toward them.  Eliza bolted, and the four of them were with her, matching her speed.  Phoenix felt a surge of pride as her three children moved effortlessly to place Eliza in a protective block.  She had to pump to keep up with the mutants in front of her, not an uncommon occurrence.  The screech of a train breaking, sliding along the tracks seemed to spur Eliza to an even greater speed, and even from the back where she was falling behind, she could feel the waves of alarm coming off of the ferret mutant.

The four mutants in front of her made a turn in the tunnel and she lost sight of them for a moment.  As she, too, rounded the corner, the sight of an old subway station came into view, the land platform, and turnstiles.  She saw a redheaded girl jump them, and then the four mutants stopped.  Eliza didn’t seem prepared for it, and veered into Arcos.  The two went flipping over to the side, landing in a fur-covered shape that reminded Phoenix of a funnel cake.

Then the world turned sideways.

She fell to the ground, off balance by the sudden tipping of the place around her.  She felt a burning in her upper arm and shoulder as she scraped against the wooden rails, her speed still propelling her forward, despite the fact she was no longer on her feet. _An earthquake?_  The thought flashed through her mind, _Now?  Really?_  But in a moment, she knew it wasn’t.  Though she felt as if was going to slide into the wall at her right, end up wedged where the curved surface met the floor, she didn’t move.  Whispers began to _hhhhuuuuhhhhh   whaaahhhhh hhhhhuuuuuhhh_ in her head.   She saw, as she tried to get up, that no one else moved either, it wasn’t an earthquake that made her plunge to the floor.  She shook her head to get the sound out of it and a wave of nausea overtook her.   She could make out words, in a girl’s voice, in between the static of whispers.   _…lab…Donnie…Gwyn…Mrs. V…angry…_ and the sensation of someone else’s terror grabbed at her.

A girl’s scream broke through the quiet din in her head.  The reason they were there came rushing back to her, Eliza’s daughter was infected with something.  But that was not the scream of someone who had an infection.  That was the scream of someone who was _hurt!_  She managed to get to her hands and knees, closing her eyes and beating down the urge to fall to her side, so she could just skid into the corner of the wall and stop the sensation of moving.  

Then the world tilted right again, and the nausea and whispering in her head were gone.

She was on her feet in a heartbeat, running toward the wall of her children, that blocked her view of anything on the other side of them.  Her arm burned where she’d scraped it as she ran, and confusion and fear grabbed at her.  All three of her kids drew their weapons and took a battle stance, all in a fluid, synchronized motion.  Medusa reared up, making herself look absolutely huge, and dropped her mouth open.  Phoenix didn’t know if she hissed or not, she couldn’t hear it.

“What are you doing?!” she yelled, but no one seemed to hear her, or if they did, they made no indication of it.  “Que faites-vous?!” she practically screamed in French, knowing that switching languages would get their attention if they truly hadn’t heard her.   “Démissionnez!”

The command only partially worked, her kids lowered their weapons a little, but did not truly stand down.  Medusa remained reared up, and her boys were still tense in a fighting stance.  She reached them, still unable to see anything in front of them.  She jumped, grabbing Aries’ horns for purchase and planting her feet on his back, hoisted herself up to his shoulders.  The ram didn’t move, as if he couldn’t even feel his mother’s maneuver.  Her boy was solid as a mountain!

She froze, however, when she landed on his shoulders, crouched for support with the weight of her medicine bag.  In front of them were the blue masked turtle and Raph, weapons drawn, angry faces.  Her mind went totally blank, of all the things she was expecting to see, this was not it.  Aries must have felt his mother tense on his shoulders, because he raised his axe again, a huff coming out from deep in his chest.  His siblings followed suit, and she heard Medusa hiss menacingly.

Her mind began to whirr suddenly, this was like watching a train wreck about to happen.  She went through a bevy of commands in her head, _“Stand down!”  “We’re here to help!” “Eliza brought us!”  “Who the hell are you people?” “What is the matter with that little girl?”_  Her eyes caught Eliza’s face, and it was filled with despair, as if she’d just discovered that Gwyn was dead.

Without thinking, Phoenix began to take off anything that might be construed as a weapon, and throwing it on the floor at the two turtles feet.  “We’re unarmed!” she yelled, “We’re unarmed!”  Her slingshot and knife skittered across the concrete, and the crimped bullet shells fell out of the bag as it hit the floor, scattering everywhere.  Still crouched on Aries’ shoulders, she struggled to pull the medicine bag over her head, ready to throw it down too, still, almost chanting, “We’re unarmed!”

* * *

 

As Phoenix starting throwing down her weapons, everyone else seemed to still, waiting to see how things would play out. Everyone but Gwyn that is, her daughter continued to writhe and wine, unaware and uncaring of the standoff. Her pained pleas a background to the healers’ mantra to avoid a conflict. Eliza reached to lay her hands on Gwyn, trying to comfort her, to do anything, she was denied as Splinter clutched the girl closer to him, causing her to squeak. **  
**

“What is the meaning of this!?” The rat-man growled, his anger directed fully at the ferret-woman. She looked in his eyes and felt his wrath. Still her concern for her daughter overid her trepidation in the face of his indignation. If anything it stirred up a well of anger that had been been hidden underneath her fear and guilt.

“What happened to my daughter?” She growled back at him, her hackles raising. “You said she would be safe!” She stepped forward and placed a hand on her child’s brow as the poor girl acted as a human shield between the angry adults.

Splinter ignored her questions as he brought his muzzle close to hers, almost, but not quite, touching. “Why have you lead these people here?” he questioned in a low clipped tone.

She continued to look him in the eye, not backing away, as she answered in the same manner, knowing that she would get nowhere until she gave some sort of response. “I was out. I needed to get back here. They helped. They’re here to help now. She,” Eliza pointed to Phoenix where she was perched on Aries shoulder, her weapons gone and hand on her medicine bag. “is a healer and Gwyn is hurt.” Eliza softened her face and her voice turned pleading. “Please, right now she’s the only thing that matters.”

Splinter’s eyes shifted to the side, apparently to take in the small woman and her brood, as he pulled away a fraction. He seemed about to say something more when the sound of booted feet came from the lair.

“We’re ready for her in the lab.” came April’s voice from behind, though Eliza did not turn to acknowledge her. She turned her focus to her daughter who had tears running down her race as she looked up at her mother. Silently pleading for her help. April must have received some kind of non-verbal acknowledgement from the sensei because her footsteps retreated away quickly in the same direction they had come.

“You three stay here.” Splinter said, not bothering to address the boys by name. “Defend, but do not provoke.” The rat moved forward and Eliza shifted out of his way but placed a firm hand on his upper arm.

“What about my friend.” Eliza emphasized the word, hoping that the rat-man would believe her that these people meant them no harm. “She can help, that’s why they came.” The ferret pushed up her sleeve, showing him her unbandaged arms, now almost healed.

Splinter’s eye-tufts raised and he looked over at the healer again, this time turning his head to take her in fully before turning back to the concerned mother. “I do not know if it will matter, but she may come if she so chooses.” he then turned and ran towards the the turnstiles, jumping over them effortlessly.

Eliza moved past the boys, ignoring their shifting stances and Raphael’s annoyed growl, and extended her hand towards the healer. “Coming?”

Phoenix had to take her hand off of her bag, and grab Aries’ other horn when she heard the rat speak.  No, no, that couldn’t be it.  She could feel his presence swell as he leaned forward toward Eliza, and though his words were directed at the ferret, his aura went out in all directions, like a wall encompassing all those around him, and stopping just short of she and her children.   As Eliza growled back at him, his presence seemed to engulf her too, so that everyone else in the space was only a little representation of him.   **  
**

No, no, don’t let it be.  She was frazzled, she was rattled.  Her blood sugar must be low, she’d fallen, she’d heard other voices in her head just a moment ago.  The angry inflection that came out of the mutant rat could not possibly be the same voice that she heard in her meditations.  It couldn’t be.   When he turned to look at her, after glancing down at Eliza’s arms, his gaze was a sweep, appraising, and he only met her eyes for a very brief moment, before turning from her, as if she was nothing more than a fly on the wall.  “She may come if she so chooses,” said the rat, and she knew that it was, and she wanted to cry or to scream.

It’s not about you, she told herself angrily, and the desire to cry receded, but the desire to cry out didn’t.

“Coming?” Eliza held her hand out toward her.

* * *

 

Wasn’t this an ironic turn of events?  Phoenix was here to heal someone, and the patient’s mother had to ask her if she was coming.

“Of course,” she said, her voice more breathy than she realized.  She swung her leg over and sat down, so she was only on one of Aries’ shoulders, and then slid down his chest to the ground.  He used his free hand to hold her steady against him as she did so.  “Vous vous comportez,” she told her three, reaching out to take Eliza’s proffered hand.    The ferret held onto her tightly, and she was glad, it gave her a place to anchor.

Just as they had taken their weapons out in one synchronous motion, so her children put them back.

“Ok,” she heard Medusa grumble disappointedly.

Aries let out an annoyed grunt to show he’d heard her.

Arcos stayed silent.  

She turned to look at him, and with his lip curled, nodded at her shortly.  She shot him a reassuring smile, and then let herself be dragged off by the ferret-woman.

She was lead through the turnstiles, which she could have jumped over easily enough, but Eliza did not seem to be in any mood to do so.  Phoenix could feel the tension waving in Eliza’s body, just through her hand, as she slowly pushed the bar to get through, waited a moment for Phoenix to pull through behind her, and then speed up again to follow the others.    She felt the ants gathering at her palms, and squeezed the ferret-woman’s hand, a few of the ants escaping through her fingertips before she could stop them.

She was lead through a set of open double doors, into what looked like a workshop, similar to what Aries would have set up, except with a great deal more chemistry equipment.  As soon as Eliza saw her daughter, she dropped Phoenix’s hand, and ran over to her, where the purple turtle and the red-headed girl were trying to calm her down, so that the rat could let her go onto a makeshift surgical table.  They glanced up, both having a wary, almost embarrassed, look on their faces, and made way for Eliza to get to Gwyn.  

“It’s going to be alright, hunny,” Eliza said to the girl, and Phoenix was surprised at how calm and reassuring it was.  

The rat, still half holding the writhing child, glanced up at the ferret, and lifted the girl, very slightly, out of her reach, so that Eliza had to stretch more than she would have to get to her.

Phoenix’s attention went to the girl, and she went into doctor mode.  Any uncertainty that lingered in the forefront of her consciousness vanished, anger was pushed aside, and a cold assessment rushed up, quickly replaced with her full attention on the girl.

She walked forward and put her hands out to the crying child.  “Hello, Gwyn,” she said, her voice tender, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”  She put her hands on the girl’s leg, the first thing she could reach, and let the ants that swarmed anxiously in her hands rush into the girl’s body.  Keeping her attention fully on Gwyn, she said, as if they were the only two people in the room, “What happened?”

* * *

 

Leonardo watched as his father, Mrs. VonHertz and the small woman disappeared from view. He was not happy with this development. It was bad enough that April convinced them to bring Gwyn back to the lair, along with the squirrelanoids in her gut, now they literally had strangers at their door. **  
**

That’s not to say that he didn’t agree with the decision to bring the young girl back here. It had been freaky enough when they had had to watch Raph go through it in their first encounter with the mutated pests, but it was heartbreaking to see the toll it was taking on Gwyn. He was sure that she would have expelled them by now but as they were on the way home all she produced was more screams. He didn’t have to be told at that point to step on the gas.

The teen stopped looking at the empty turnstiles and towards the three large mutants who had just put away their weapons. Leo had not been told to put his away, he still held them in front of his body, slightly crossed for defence. Master Splinter had charged them with protecting their home but it no longer seemed that the intruders were about to attack. He didn’t want to sheath his blades, he felt more comfortable with them at the ready, but he could also feel Mikey’s eyes on him and the sideways glance from Raph when he could tear himself from glaring at the ram and bear. Though it seemed to the leader that his agitated brother spent most of his time staring down the snake who seemed to return the animosity leveled at her in kind. With an exasperated sigh Leonardo retired from his fighting stance and put away his blades.

Mikey, taking the move as sign that there was nothing to worry about, voiced the topic that was really on his mind. “Do you think she’ll be ok?” befreckled brother was looking in the direction of Donnie’s lab.

Leo winced. He could tell how scared Mikey was, not only for Gwyn but for what they would face next. They’d unknowingly camped next to a whole nest of Squirrelanoids, some small and furry while others were large and grotesque. Apparently flushing them had not been as permanent as he had hoped. Mikey throwing the fact that he had called it had been especially annoying while they had been battling their way free of them.

“She’ll be fine.” He said with false confidence. “That homeless guy was strong enough to run off and Raph came through it no worse for wear.”

“Speak for yourself fearless.” Raph snarled without diverting his gaze from the snake. He was still crouched with his sais at the ready. “You didn’t have those little bastards running around in your guts.”

“Yeah Man.” Mikey chimed in. “That street dude was damaged goods and Raph has always been twisted.”

“Hey!!”

Mikey continued, ignoring his brother’s outburst. “But no tellin’ how having to play mutant hostess will mess with a girl as sweet as Gwyn.” Leo couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He liked Gwyn, she was a good kid, but far from the saint Mikey painted her to be. He probably didn’t notice it cause most of the time it was the two of them causing mischief together.

Leo noticed a shift from the three mutants and turned his attention to them again. They had leaned their heads together to converse but their soft whispers didn’t make it to the platform. He was curious. This was finally an opportunity to talk to the sometime adversaries sometimes allies and find out their objectives. Donnie had his theories and after hearing Mrs. VonHertz claim about them helping her he was beginning to wonder if his brainy brother could be right after all. Raph however, Leo mused as the agitated teen began to growl under his breath, was already convinced as to what camp the mutants and their mother belonged to.

“Stand down Raphael. They’re not going to attack.” Leonardo’s agitation at Raph’s attitude and the unneeded tension he was adding to the situation bleed into his voice. And here everyone claimed he was the paranoid one.  

“What!” Raph turned to get in Leo’s face. “They are on our turf! This is our home, fearless! They shouldn’t be here!” He pointed his sai in the direction of the snake mutant. “I’m not gonna’ give little miss long, green and scaly over there the chance to slither in here. She’s probably already thinkin’ bout what order to eat us in!”

There was an answering hiss that Leo chose to ignore. “We were told not to provoke. That is the OPPOSITE of what you are doing right now.” There was a standoff of wills that was definitely detrimental to any perception the turtle teens may have had at a united front. Eventually Raphael backed off first and stalked away with an exaggerated bump against the leader’s shoulder. He didn’t go far though, taking up a defense position in front of the entryway and glaring at everyone.

Leo turned back to the trio who were looking at him with varying expressions. He folded his arms and leaned against the shellraiser, attempting to look casual though he was as alert as Raphael to any threatening movement. Mikey sunk to the floor and tucked his feet in with his knees wide, probably the only one of the six of them actually at ease as they waited for news from the lab.

After a few minutes passed the youngest turtle began to get figity, rocking back and forth. Mikey was getting bored and that always put Leo on heightened alert. Before he could prevent it Mikey broke the stalemate. “So how do you guys know Mrs. V anyway?”


	3. Chapter 3

The orange masked turtle’s announcement of what a sweet girl Gwyn was, right on the heels of Raph being damaged goods got a good snicker out of both of Phoenix’s boys.  It broke the tension between the three of them as they stood unified, though unarmed, against the three turtles that the rat told to remain.   The derisive chuckles, very quiet, had Medusa leaning over, so that three of them had their heads close together.   **  
**

“Somebody’s got it bad,” Aries muttered, shaking his head.

Arcos rolled his eyes, “Did you see fearless roll his eyes?”

Medusa giggled, a hissy sound, but she turned it into a proper hiss, however small, when she heard Raph spit he wasn’t going to give her any room to move into their turf.  The announcement garnered another set of snickers from her brothers.

“Yeah, Miss long, green, and scaly,” Aries poked her with one of his thick fingers, a wide grin on his face, “What order are you going to eat the short, green, and scaly guys.”

Medusa giggled, and then shot a nasty glance over at Raph, who had stalked off.  “I won’t eat them in any particular order,” she said loudly enough that she hoped their heard.  “Whoever presents themselves first.”

Arocs and Aries worked very hard to get a hold of their laughter.

“Seriously,” Arcos’ low voice broke through to a more sombre tone again, “You think Mama is OK in there by herself?  She’s way outnumbered.”

“We would hear if she wasn’t,” Medusa said.  “These people are obviously not working for the Kraang.”

“Then why do they keep showing up at all the Kraang things we show up at?” Aries asked, throwing a suspicious glance at the blue masked turtle.

“They don’t show up at every place,” Medusa replied.

Aries let out a little huff.

“So,” said the orange masked turtle, “How do you guys know Mrs. V anyway?”

“Mrs. V,” Aries said slowly, as if trying out the words.

“She was taking a walk with our mother,” Arcos said, his voice even.

“So why didn’t she mention any of you?” Leo asked, still leaning on the Shellraiser.  He looked at his hand, as if it were more interesting than the answer to the question.

Aries let out a series of small huffing noises, his version of a silent laugh at the display of bravado.  These turtles really made a much stronger impression when they were fighting.  This…show…was almost pathetic.

“I have no idea,” Arcos answered.  “She didn’t mention any of you, either.  I am sure if she did, my mother would not have invited her over to our house.”

“She was over at your house?” the red one asked.  

“You have a house?” the orange one asked at the same time.

All three of the Phoenix’s children looked at Mikey like he was worms crawling out of his nostrils, ignoring Raph’s question altogether.  “Yeah,” Medusa said slowly, “we have to live somewhere.  We don’t just poof into the ether, you know.”  She made a poofing motion with her hand, opening her fingers and widening her black eyes.

Arcos and Aries’ chuckles were full force this time around, with sound and body shaking.

Raph glared at them, and Leo pushed himself off the Shellraiser, his nonchalant attitude becoming a little more pensive.  He opened his mouth to say something, but Mikey’s voice came out.  He looked confused as he snapped his beak shut.

“You have a house, like, with a yard?  And a fence?  And people?” Mikey asked, his face disbelieving.

Medusa giggled this time, a good natured giggle, quite unlike the one’s she’d let loose before.  She smiled in spite of herself, and shook her head.  “No,” she said, leaning on Aries next to her.  “Of course there are no people.  Except for Mama,” she motioned her muzzle in the direction of the turnstiles.  

“It has a fence, though,” Aries leaned into his sister, each of them using the other’s weight to keep them up, “and a yard.”

“We don’t play in the yard anymore, though,” Arcos quipped.  “You are welcome to come and play in it.”  He couldn’t keep the smile off of his face.

Mikey didn’t seem to get the barb, but Leo did.  “What was Mrs. VonHertz doing walking with your mother?” he asked, his voice a little louder than he meant it to be.

“I guess they found each other,” Arcos said.  “That’s normally how it works.”

Leo gave a frustrated look, and Arcos shook his head, feeling sorry for the kid. He was obviously a kid by the way he was acting.  “Listen,” he put his arm on Aries’ free shoulder, to hold himself up, “We’re not going to hurt anybody.  My mom likes your friend–”

“I like your friend,” Aries interrupted, waggling his eye ridges.

“Aries likes your friend,” Arcos corrected.  “We try to be nice to people our family members like.”

* * *

 

Donatello was pulling out every piece of medical equipment he had and pulling up the relevant programs on his main computer. April came into the lab while he was in the middle of doing so. **  
**

“How can I help?” She offered and he quickly directed her to put away all of his retro-mutagen research and experiments. It was bad enough they were, in all likelihood, about to have an infestation on their hands, the last thing they needed was to add hazardous chemicals and more mutagen to the mix. They worked quickly together, the pattern of the last few weeks back in the lab had allowed them to establish a flow, almost a dance, choreographed to the scientific method rather than music.

If the circumstances had been better he would have reveled in the moment but there were more pressing concerns that kept him from enjoying it. How could he enjoy anything when Gwyn’s screams still reverberated inside his head. Something had gone extremely wrong. Granted, there was nothing particularly right with your gastrointestinal tract being invaded by a terran sciuridae hopped up on an transformative compound from another dimension, but something had deviated from the established pattern.

The homeless man they had brought down to the lair had completed the reproduction in approximately thirty minutes. Raphael went through the cycle even faster than that. So what was taking Gwyn so long? It was now approaching two hours since they had first heard her scream near their subterranean camp site. Mikey had been trying to teach her how to play ‘Ninja Tag’. She was attempting to hid, and therefore unaccompanied, when she stumbled into the Squirrelanoid nest and become infected.

Of course Gwyn was freaked, Mikey had regaled her with the tale of their first encounter along with his comic based theories about all the other aspects of Squirrelanoids. Donnie was certain that it was best to keep Gwyn down in the tunnels, she was just going to throw up two more squirrels for them to deal with, better there than back at the lair. So, April stayed with her while everyone else dealt with the attacking mutant squirrels, with extreme prejudice. Eventually the vermin scattered and a group of them escaped. Raph was all for tracking them down but April relayed the conversation that she’d had with Mrs. VonHertz. After a small debate Master Splinter scooped the terrified girl up and ordered everyone into the Shellraiser and back to the lair.

Donatello was brought out of his musings by a feather-light touch on the edge of his shell. “Everything’s put up.” April related a little breathly. “What next?”

The mutant teen frowned as he contemplated the door to the lab, his fingers not pausing as he finished the recalibrating the medical programs for Gwyn’s height, weight, gender and species. “They should have been right behind us. Let them know that we’re ready.” April smiled at him and his heart skipped a beat but she was out the door before he could fully enjoy the moment. He finished his calculations and grabbed his scanner just as she was coming back into the space. Splinter and Gwyn were not far behind.

“Over here sensei.” Don motioned to the cleared examine table. Gwyn was not cooperative, she clung Master Splinter as he attempted to deposit her and his and April’s efforts to help were not being well received. Donatello looked up and caught a glimpse of Mrs. V. coming through the door, he touched April’s arm and they both moved away to make room for her. He saw the guilt on the red-head’s face and knew it was mirrored on his own. Seeing the worried mother reminded him of all the assurances that they had given her that everything would be fine on their little trip. Statements that had now been proven false.

As Donnie backed away he was surprised to see the woman who had fought by their side against the mutated wild fennel. His mind swirled with questions about what she doing here but now was not the time. He watched as she approached Gwyn and was stunned when the girl started to calm as the woman laid a hand on her leg then was even more amazed when her mother shifted to allow the woman greater access. She spoke softly and was able to coax the fragmented details about the evening from Gwyn’s point of view.

While the girl was distracted and relatively still, Donatello took the presented opportunity to take up his equipment and perform the scans his needed to deduce exactly what was happening to her internally. Master Splinter had stepped back to give him room on the side of the table opposite of the woman, choosing to stay nearby and observe. Donnie was in the middle of uploading the data when indignatious yell reverberated through the relative empty of his lab.

“SQUIRRELANOIDS!!” He glanced up to see Mrs. V. standing and looking a April with fury. “You should have told me on the phone!” Donnie felt his own agitation rising at the attack but pushed it down and returned to his computer. April could handle herself, as she was fond of reminding him, and the sooner he figured out what was happening to Gwyn the better it would be for everyone.

“Squirrel-a-what?” The woman questioned from where she was sitting on the edge of the table next to Gwyn making contact with those around the room in search of an answer time she landed on Donatello.

“Squirrel-A-Noid” the genus stated as he continued typing. “A common gray squirrel that has been exposed to mutagen, no apparent difference from it’s common cousin except for a split hinged lower jaw and elongated tongue. That is until it transforms into a 7ft piece of nasty worthy of any "Alien” movie. While in stage one it reproduces by invading a host’s stomach as suitable environment in which to split, thereby cloning itself.“ He pressed the enter key decisively and the scan appeared on his monitor. "annddd… what is currently in Gwyn’s stomach.” He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “By Darwin’s Beard!!”

He felt April come up behind him to see. “Is that… is that even possible?”

“What?” Mrs. VonHertz questioned from her spot next to Gwyn’s head, craning her neck to see the screen. “What’s wrong?”

Donatello traced his thick finger across the screen, counting heads and spines to confirmed is initial conclusion. “Fascinating, bad news, but fascinating. No wonder she’s in some much pain.” Donnie pushed away a went to the medical cabinet and starting frantically shifting bottles around searching for the ipecac but coming up empty.

“Donatello.” Came the strict voice of his father, making him realize that the room was still waiting for an explanation.

“Somehow her gag reflex is being suppressed. The reproductive cycle didn’t stop, they’ve been dividing this whole time. Instead of 2,there are now 8 squirrels in there. If she doesn’t throw them up before they split again they could rupture her stomach. On way or another we have to get them out of her.”

* * *

 

“Suppressed gag reflex?” Phoenix said, her voice calm, her attention back on Gwyn.  “That’s easily fixed.”  She put her hand on the girl’s stomach, and said, “Sit up for me, and face me.” **  
**

Gwyn did as she was told, and Phoenix was marginally aware that Eliza was gazing at her with worried eyes.  Standing in front of her, she could feel things moving inside the girl, much like when a baby moves inside of its mother’s womb, only this was moving in the wrong place.

 _Ruptured stomach_ , the unbidden thought said, bringing her attention away from the strange movement beneath her fingers.   She imagined, her mind’s eye, the little golden ants bridging small fissures in Gwyn’s stomach lining, much as actual ants would do to support their breaking tunnels.  

Having a snake for a daughter made an issue caused by a suppressed gag reflex a semi-common occurrence in the mutant’s childhood.  Attempting to swallow things that were much too big for even her large jaw and flexible stomach had set Phoenix to worry so much, that she soon became very adroit at inducing vomiting in Medusa.  An ugly sight.

Her brain didn’t even have to go through the biological data, the gag reflex is the retching response caused in the mouth as opposed to the abdomen.  Her hand left the girl’s stomach, and found juncture of her breast bone, her other hand going to the girl’s upper back.  “We don’t need to gag,” she said gently, “we just need to retch.”

Without warning, she pressed her knuckles into Gwyn’s diaphragm, and pressed on her back at the same time.  Gwyn’s eyes went wide, as she tried to back instinctively to get away from hard press on her abdomen.  Phoenix’s other hand prevented her from doing so, and then the girl’s neck snaked in the familiar  movement of one about to vomit.

Gwyn’s body  tried to bend forward, her mouth hanging open.  Phoenix kept her knuckles in the girls’ stomach, knowing that if she moved them, the retching reflex would stop.  A small choking noise came from Gwyn, and Eliza jerked, her eyes panicked.

Then her head surged forward where her body couldn’t and a great flow of viscous, mucus-like liquid spewed out of her, right onto Phoenix’s chest.

Being vomited on was no new thing for the healer.  As the mother for four small children, three of whom ate things they shouldn’t out of garbage cans on frequent occasions, she was vomited on quite a bit in her earlier years as a mother of mutants.  She kept her eyes on Gwyn’s, whose rolled with each of her retches.  The doctor part of her brain noted that the smell of the vomit was not right, it wasn’t anywhere near sour enough.  That would mean that the acid in it wasn’t as strong, perhaps the viscousness of it was mucus after all.

Then things began to hit her chest, what looked like balls being flung out of Gwyn’s mouth.  They hit her with quite force, and made a wet splat each time they hit her.  Three of them fell onto Gwyn’s lap, which was also covered in the mucus liquid, before dropping to the floor.

“Good girl,” Phoenix crooned, as if Gwyn had just accomplished some great task.  “Keep it up.”

With another heave, and another spew of green gunk, another ball hit Phoenix’s chest, bounced to Gwyn’s lap, and then hit the floor with a splat.

“That’s eight!” Donatello cried, as if eight were  magic a number and now something stupendous would happen.

Phoenix took her knuckles from the girl’s gut, but kept her hand on her back.  As soon as she did, she felt a sharp pain in her calf.  She let out a little cry, and felt Gwyn jump underneath the hand that was still on her back.  A squirrel was biting into her leg!  

She felt a surge of indignant rage that some stomach-incubating squirrel mutant would have the gall to bite her in her leg!  She shook her leg hard, and the little blighter dislodged, landing on all fours and opening its mouth.  It’s bottom jaw spread, and a long tongue snaked out as it hissed.  Phoenix let out another cry, this one of surprise, and jumped on the table, all but dragging Gwyn with her to get the girl’s legs as far away from the floor as possible.  She stopped when she bumped into Eliza, who was scrambling to the other side of her daughter in an attempt to grab her.

It was only then that Phoenix noticed the room was in chaos.  The rat, the purple masked turtle, and the red-headed girl were bandying about the room, with weapons drawn, in an attempt to do something about the squirrels running around.  Phoenix reached for her knife, only to find it wasn’t at her waist.  She’d thrown it down earlier!  She was unarmed!

One jumped on the table, and Gwyn let out a scream.  Eliza promptly screamed after her, and Phoenix let out a tiny one before she suppressed it.  She snatched at the squirrel, grabbing it by the tail.  It turned and bit her in the hand, and with a resentful cry, she flung it across the room.  It landed against the door with a “thump” before dropping to the floor.

The door, as if in slow motion, creaked open a little wider, and several of the squirrelanoids made a mad dash toward the crack.

“No!” the red headed girl cried, reaching out a hand as if by doing so she could miraculously catch the escaping squirrels.

“We can’t let them escape!” Donatello yelled, as he tried to bop one with this staff.

Phoenix looked around her in search of something sharp she could throw.  She noticed the at the rat hadn’t gone to chase the squirrelanoids as the two younger people had, but had planted himself firmly behind Eliza and Gwyn.  The observation went through her head quickly, her eyes still scanning for something use as a projectile.  She saw, on the side of the makeshift surgical table, in a little cloth pocket, a set of probing  instruments.  She grabbed them, and began flinging them like throwing knives at the little moving targets.   She managed to spear one of them, it let out an angry squeak, elongated as it fell on its side.   She threw her last one, hitting a squirrel in the leg.  Whether she had done any damage to it, she couldn’t tell, for it made its way out of the door.

* * *

 

Raph took up his position by the turnstiles and glared at the room. Stupid Leo, brownoser was gonna get them all killed. He frowned when he caught the tail edge of snake-girl’s comment about eating whoever came her way. It just made the blood that was already roaring in his ears became almost deafening. 

He was mad. Mad and scared. His body had come down from the adrenaline rush from the fight in the Squirrelanoids nest in time to see Gwyn start writhing and screaming in pain. It brought back his own experience with the fury parasites in his guts. He fought to not show the shiver that ran down his spine at the memory. There was nothing he could do for the girl and it left him feeling helpless. Then these mountain sized mutants, seriously, why the hell was almost every member of the Krang freakshow taller than him, with their human mom show up on his doorstep and he wasn’t even allowed take them down.  

Now Mikey and Leo were playing nice while Raph’s question was ignored. The other three were laughing at them, granted Mikey was being especially oblivious, but that didn’t mean they could make a joke out of his little brother. That was his job. His fury took on a whole nother level as he caught onto the insinuations that the ram kept making about Mrs. V. He didn’t like the way he said her name, didn’t like that she’d been to his house and wanted to punch that smirky grin off his wooly face.

He shifted forward, hands itching towards the sias on his belt, eager for their familiar weight in his palms. Then from behind him there was the sounds of a commotion coming from Donnie’s lab. He turned and pulled his weapons with no further hesitation. It felt wrong to turn his shell to the trio on the subway tracks, but he was so keyed up for a fight that he was willing to take the risk. His brothers would have his back and there would be plenty of warning should he need to redirect his energies. The door cracked open and five grey squirrels emerged and dispersed into the lair followed shortly after by Donnie and April. Wait, FIVE!

“What the SHELL Donnie!” Raph yelled as he advanced past the turnstiles, forgetting all other threats in light of the home infestation. His lanky brother paused to wait for them as April ran in the direction of their bedrooms, fan out, trailing after one of the miniature monsters.

“Funny thing.” Donnie giggle nervously while holding his bo staff at the ready, nagata out. His brother growled knowing that whatever happened was nothing even close to funny. “It appears the original, along with it’s clones, went through multiple cycles of cellular division, creating an exponential rise in the number of spec…”

“ENGLISH!!”

Donnie cringed. “It split 3 times instead of once. Gwyn had 8 in there instead of 2.”

Raph felt his stomach roll and the remnants of his last meal threatened to make an appearance. He swallowed thickly and willed the sensation to go away.

“How long till they mutant?” He heard Leo ask and gave a sideways glance to see his brother approaching, already in full leader mood.

“No way to know. The signatures weren’t as powerful as before but there’s no telling how they’ve evolved since then.” Donnie looked unsure. As much as Raph teased his nerdy bro, he prefered him confident and snarky to indecisive.

“Ok. Then lets handle this before that becomes an issue.” For once Raph had no beef with the order. There was a flash of gray heading towards the kitchen as another scampered past them towards the stairs. With a silent signal their leader directed Raph to the left as Leo went after the one heading towards the exit. Donnie, now released from their questioning, bolted in the direction April had gone. That still left some of the little buggers unaccounted for, but he would worry about that after he took down the first one.

Raphael crept down the hall silently, employing all the stealth that he could, keenly aware of the small chittering sounds coming from the kitchen. Inching forward he saw the tip of a bushy tail disappear as the little freak jumped from the floor to the counter. The red masked teen stopped at the entrance, peaking through an opening in the curtain. He saw it sniffing at the candy machines that they kept stocked with cereal, granola or any other dry-good that would work in the things.

Raph took a deep breath, reminding himself that no matter what he had to keep his mouth closed. The very idea or one of those little suckers getting into his system again was almost enough for him to want to retreat. But the thought of revenge was so much sweeter and so with a final breath he steadied his nerves and plowed past the curtain with a lunge and prongs out, ready to skewer the furry bastard.

With annoyingly quick reflexes the squirrel dodged him and continued to evade his every attack. It jumped from appliance to counter to cabinet leading Raphael on a frantic chase through the kitchen. Soon the space was decimated with broken plates scattered on the floor and food littering every surface. Raph panted and tried to catch his breath as he scanned the room for where his feisty opponent had disappeared to.

His only warning was the scraping of nails on countertop before a small weight landed on his shell. The teen flailed frantically trying to dislodge the little beast but to no avail. It had landed precisely in the middle of his carapace where he could not reach it.

Panicking and frustrated Raph did not see the wet patch on the floor and promptly fell. His arms went out, grasping for any purchase to prevent the fall only to take hold of the oven door, pulling it down as he fell and bonking himself on the head. The good news was that the squirrel was no longer on his shell. The bad news. It was staring right at him jaw wide, long tongue whipping in the air menacingly, as it stood on the now open the oven door.

Raph couldn't hold back the surprised shriek that escaped and the squirrel advanced. Upon seeing the creature move the turtle instinctively slammed the door shut in a bid of self-preservation.

"Ha! How do you like them cookies!" The teen yelled at the closed appliance where angry shrieks and noises are now coming from. The satisfaction was glorious and he indulged in a short victory dance. That is until the reality of 'So now what?' begged to be answered.

He looked at the dial for the stove with trepidation, trying not to think about the labeled temperatures. He turned to walk away, leave the rodent to stew till he came up with a better idea. Or ask Donnie, heck he'd even let Leo take this one. Then he remembered how freaked he was to have those things in his stomach. He thought about little Gwyn, screaming and clawing at her torso. He wouldn't let anyone else in his family suffer like that just because he was feeling squeamish.

Raphael turned the dial to its highest setting. He heard the noises inside become more frantic and could smell odor of singed fur. When the sound of high pitched screaming filled the room and bounced accusingly off the walls, he fled.

* * *

 

All three of The Children of the Phoenix bolted upright, their affected nonchalance stances of leaning on each other gone when Raph bolted over the turnstiles.   The turtle that Raph had referred to as ‘fearless’ looked confused, but the orange banded one stayed seated near the railway car.  Fearless looked at the three of them, then in the direction Raph had run, then back at them.  A slightly defeated look crossed his face, and ran after his brother.

“What’s going on?” Aries asked, taking several steps forward toward the Shellraiser, so he could look over the turnstiles.  Just as he did, two squirrels came skuttering through the them, Fearless on their heels.

“Don’t let them get into sewer!” the blue masked turtle yelled, as the two squirrels ran off in opposite directions down the sewer tunnels.

“It’s a squirrel,” Aries said, dancing out of their way when they passed him.  “What’s it doing in the sewer in the first place?”

The orange turtle had stood up, and began running down the tunnel after one of the squirrels, toward Medusa and Arcos.  “It’s a squirrelanoid!” he cried, nunchucks twirling in the air.

Fearless ran in the opposite direction of his brother, chasing the other squirrelanoid, his katana drawn, his arms back as if he were trying to be a jet plane and take off after the little creature.  Aries ran after him, drawing his axe.  The squirrel changed directions, bouncing off the ground as the turtle swung at it, and landing on his hand.  It then ran up his arm, and the turtle let out a small yelp, shaking the furry creature off.  It went flying, easily catching its balance, and landed near Aries.  

“What are you doing down in the sewer, man?” Aires asked it.  “Don’t you know there are things down here that will eat you?  Like my sister?”

The squirrel, as if to tell him what it thought of his sister, opened its mouth and screamed at him.  If all it had done was scream at him, it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal.  However, its bottom jaw unhinged, reminding him grossly of Medusa when she was showing off, only going horizontally instead of vertically.  A grotesquely long tongue snaked out of its mouth.  Aries screamed, and brought his axe down where the little blighter was standing.

The squirrel easily jumped out of the ram’s way, catapulting itself off of the wall toward the ram’s head.  Fearless had reached him by then, and swung one of his katana at the creature as it was in the air.  The ram swung his axe at the same time, missing the squirrel and hitting Fearless’ weapon instead.  The squirrel let out another scream as both boys turned around, then it scurried farther down the tunnel.

“What the hell was that?” Aries asked, his eyes wide, his horizontal pupils nothing more than thin lines, even in the dim light of the sewer.

  
Without hesitation, Fearless ran after the furry woodland creature, “It’s a squirrelanoid, and we can’t let it get loose!”

Aries ran after him, “It’s already loose!”

“We need to get it unloose!”

Aries was going to mention that he didn’t think unloose was a word, but had to concentrate on running too much to do so.  That turtle was fast!  Aries had to pump his powerful legs to keep up, and he would swear up and down that the muscle in his thighs had to be twice as much as in that scrawny turtle.  He finally dropped to all fours, one of his arms holding the axe against his chest, so that he could catch up.  

The squirrel made a sharp right, and sprinted down a smaller passageway.

“Awwwoooh!” Fearless muttered, turning without missing a beat, and leaping into the passageway after it.  Aries followed him, jumping like a sheep on all fours, in hot pursuit.

* * *

 

Seeing the orange masked turtle hurdling toward her, chasing the sewer squirrel, Medusa sighed, as if she were badly done to, and as the squirrel passed her, she swept down and grabbed it.  With a speed that one would not suspect from a creature so large, dropped it into her mouth and swallowed it.  “There,” she said a smug smile.  “It didn’t get into the sewer.” **  
**

The orange turtle skidded to a stop and looked at her, his pale blue eyes aghast.  “That was a squirrelanoid, dude!” he yelled, his voice going up an octave.  “Why did you eat it?!”

“I’m not a dude,” she told him, her voice annoyed.

“What’s a squirrelanoid?” Arcos asked slowly, his gravelly voice having an edge of apprehension to it.

“A mutant squirrel!” Orange said dramatically.  

“Tasted normal to me,” Medusa shrugged.

“It’s going to divide in your stomach, and then you’re going to puke out two of them!”

Medusa chuckled.  “Good one,” she said.

Arcos drew his eye ridges together.

“Then they’re going to mutate into these giant Alien looking things, with glowing heads and mouths on their tongues!”  Orange sounded like he was going into a panic.

“Are you serious?” Arcos asked, glancing at his sister, who looked thoroughly disgusted at the story.

“Yes!” Orange cried.

The look on Medusa’s snakey face changed to one of surprise.  “Serious?” she said, her voice low.

“Yes!!!” Orange all but screamed.

Medusa put her hand on her stomach, or where her stomach would be if she had legs, and looked suddenly uncomfortable.  “Oh dear.”

Arcos glared at her angrily for a moment, and then grabbed her by one of her thin arms, and began to drag her toward the turnstiles.  “MAMA!” he yelled, his deep voice echoing through the sewer tunnel, “MAMA...MAma...Mama...mama…”


	4. Chapter 4

Splinter folded his ears back as tightly against his skull as he could, yet it did little to reduce the pain of the high pitched female voices reverberating through the room. He grimaced and cringed till thankfully, all at the same instant, they stopped. He waited a fraction of a moment, making sure they would not resume, before extending his neck back to it’s full length from its’ retreat between his shoulders. He shook his head back and forth, his upper body rolling with the motion as his ears released from their tucked position. There was still a slight ringing in his left ear, the side that had be closest to the table the VonHertz’s and the female healer were gathered around. **  
**

Occupied in dispatching one of the vermin, he saw, too late, the squirrel being tossed and the door opening. He was too far away to prevent their escape, and so returned to the woman and child under his protection should one of the mutated squirrels decide to turn back, to attack once more. As he took his stance, ignoring the burn in his hip and knee from a poorly taken fall earlier in the cavern fight, he noted that the medic had made improvised weapons of his son’s medical equipment. He felt a twinge of approval that quickly became tinged with wariness. He had heard of her marksmanship from his sons, but to see that her aim was true, even with substandard weaponry, meant that he would have to keep an eye on her should their alliance prove short-lived. Even a ninja could be incapacitated with a well placed shot.

The room cleared, leaving him, the females and three furry corpses. He was not pleased that five had managed to escape into the lair. Despite living in a place forfeited and forgotten by the city that had originally commissioned its’ construction, Hamato Yoshi was proud of his subterranean space. He had worked hard for a decade and a half to carve a place for his family underneath the streets of a society that would never openly accept them. It was a point of pride. It was a place of safety. It was their home. He would not have it, or those whom he sheltered within it, defiled by these creatures.

He stepped forward and placed a hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder, wanting to make her aware of his presence and ignoring the small jump at his touch. He leaned down past her and addressed Gwynevere, looking small and pathetic, covered in her own mess. “Are you unharmed?”

She gave him the tiniest eyeroll, clearly not thinking much about the question, then leaned her upper body into her mother’s arms while the rest of her remained on the steel table. “My tummy still hurts.” Her voice was hoarse and she turned to bury her face into her mother’s chest, effectively shutting down any further line of inquiry.

A muted frown ghosted across his muzzle. While the healer had done well in dealing with the situation perhaps she had been too late or too harsh in the application of the treatment that the child had some unseen injury. He was still unhappy about Mrs. VonHertz appearing with these people in tow. It was still unclear how Elizabeth’s wound, still raw and angry looking during the morning’s bandage change, had almost disappeared. It was enough to convince him to allow her near Gwynevere, though he remained sceptical. He had thought he had perceived some moved of ki earlier but the moment had passed too quickly for him to pinpoint. It would offer a plausible explanation if the small woman was somehow trained in the art of reiki.

He looked around his son’s lab and felt an unease about the openness of the space. Should the creatures come back in here he would be unable to cover all the approaches. He glanced at the woman and seeing their disheveled state concluded that at change of location may be prudent for multiple reasons. The bathroom was across the common area, that presented an issue, but once there he could easily cover the one entrance. It also had the added benefit of allowing the females to avail themselves of the facilities.

Decision made, he stepped around Elizabeth to take her child once again into his arms. Sensing his intention she maneuvered her ample hips to bar his way. “What do you think you’re doing?” Her voice still held a note of fear but was now tinged with indignation.

He fought to keep his voice calm. Elizabeth VonHertz had a habit of questioning him at the most inopportune times. She could be an affable enough woman when she wanted to be but had a stubborn streak that could be most trying. He had come to learn that facts worked better with her than gentle coaxing in times like these. “We are too exposed here. The lavatory is a more defensible location.”

She looked at him appraisingly, but deferred to his evaluation with a nod though she did not stand aside. Instead she shifted Gwyn and prepared to lift the girl herself. He made no protest, though Gwyn was at an age where height and weight were not evenly distributed, it would not be the first time he had seen the ferret-woman hauling her daughter around. It often occurred after the pre-teen had fallen asleep during a movie marathon with his sons. He had long ago given up such gestures, letting the boys sleep in the open if they so chose.

“Eliza,” Splinter’s eyebrow raised when the healer placed a hand on the ferret’s forearm to halt her action. “you should let him carry her.” A silent conversation passed between them and he was surprised to see Elizabeth fold to the healer’s will with a sigh.

“Yeah. I guess so.” She roused Gwyn and softly whispered what was happening while encouraging the girl to unfold herself from her mother’s breast.

The ninja master kept the healer in his peripheral vision as she left the table and moved around the room swiftly gathering up her makeshift ammunition from where it had failed to hit its mark. She paused momentarily to examine a small furry body before returning to the group just as Splinter took Gwyn in his arms. He held the child protectively when she whimpered and curled into his chest, giving her a gentle comforting squeeze.

“You lead the way. I’ll cover the rear.” The small woman said as she smiled and flashed the medical equipment in an expert grip.

It was not a position he would have preferred to put himself in, but he could tell that she meant no harm to Elizabeth or her daughter. Besides, there was a glint in her eye that said she would welcome some more payback on the creatures that had marked her hand and leg. He nodded and the group moved out.

Mrs. VonHertz opened the door, stepping aside to let Splinter to check that the coast was clear. At his signal she exited with the ninja master close and the healer just a step behind. They crossed the living area and were mounting the steps out of the far side of the pit when the bellow of a deep voice calling ‘Mama’ could be heard.

Everyone paused but Splinter nudged Elizabeth forward. The bathroom was just down the hall and he was focused on getting mother and child to safety. He could tell that the small woman was no longer at his back. No matter, he knew where his priorities lay, there would be time enough to deal with everything else later.

* * *

 

Phoenix bolted when she heard Acros calling for her,  her heart filling with dread, her mind excluding everything except the voice of her son.   She was almost in the common space when thought came back to her.   Acros’ cry had not been desperate, but rather the tone was as if he were calling her from his workshop and she was in the kitchen.   It was not laced worth panic, but rather annoyance,  as if he had been calling her and she hadn’t heard him, therefore she had not answered.   He wasn’t in danger. **  
**

She felt a rush of annoyance, quickly replaced by guilt at having run from Eliza, Gwyn, and the rat mutant.   Gwyn had complained that her stomach still hurt, and Phoenix had no doubt that it did.   Those squirrelanoids were the same size as a regular squirrel, and Gwyn had had 8 of them in her stomach.   She might have lacerations in the lining or muscle from it stretching.   Phoenix hadn’t done anything to Gwyn once the girl had vomited.   She put her hands to her lips to make a megaphone and yelled,  "Deal with it Acros!“

She turned and sped back down the hall just as the rest were reaching the door that she guessed was the ‘lavatory’.   She would have laughed under different circumstances.

"I can guard the entrance here, if you want to go and chase squirrels,” she told Splinter.

“No,” he said firmly,  staring down at her.

She stood speechless for a moment, her breath taken away by response.   No one had spoken to her that way since…shoot,  Stephane was the last person to do that.   At an utter loss for words,  she said the only thing she could think of,  "Alright then.“   She deliberately walked around him to stand next to Eliza,  a clear sign that she wasn’t going anywhere.

* * *

 

April turned her head to talk to Donnie only to find that he wasn’t there. She frowned but was distracted from her annoyance by the sound of small claws scraping on the concrete. The teen caught sight of the critter ducking into the aforementioned turtle’s room. She was quick to follow but was not fast enough to keep it from digging into the mounds of spare electronics and lengths of wire scattered about the techie mutants’ room. **  
**

It always struck April as strange how Donnie insisted on a strict method of organization and labeling, everything in its’ designated place, when in the lab, yet his room was closer to the salvage dumps he loved to frequent. Granted, April knew that most of the menagerie of parts were clean, despite the overall impression. As opposed to his younger brother, where dirt, food, toys and an eclectic collection of human undergarments abounded, Donnie’s mess was mostly a mix of paper, metal and plastic clutter. Though the tall shelf on the back wall that housed the clear plastic tubs of Donnie’s insect farms served to undermine that knowledge.

The red-head approached the piles with caution, using her folded tessin to move things aside in hopes of flushing the creature out. She really didn’t want to get bit or worst by digging in too deeply. She wished Donnie would hurry up, his bo would be much better to use in shifting things aside. She looked up to see if there was a spare one in the room. Lucking out, she returned to her search.

“Find anything?” Donatello’s voice came from directly above her left ear. She startled and then threw an elbow into his plastron, catching him off guard from where he was leaning over her. Though he grunted and took a step back April suspected that her now throbbing elbow was on the losing end of the encounter.

“Don’t sneak up on me.” She said crankily, not happy that they could still manage to catch her off guard. _Ninjas_. She stood and turned on him only to find Donnie giving her one of his bashful apologetic smiles. Some of her annoyance at him started to dissipate but was quickly replaced by the task ahead. “This is impossible. The darn thing is holed up in here somewhere in this junk pile and is not coming out.”

“Technically, while my materials do come from questionable sources, I consider these ‘upcycling components’. Junk would denote that I have no purpose for my collection. I always have a something in mind for every resource I bring home.” Donnie voice had drifted into lecture mood with a hint of indignation.

“Donatello.”  

“Sorry, sorry.” He held up his hands in appeasement and then reached back and closed the door. Unbidden Master Splinter’s lecture to everyone about the ‘open door policy’ from April’s days of living in the lair lept to her mind. “We’ve got it trapped. We’ll just go through the piles in a systematic fashion until we find it.”

“Well I’d like to find it before it grows up all big and fangy.” She scanned the room again. “Too bad kraang DNA didn’t come with x-ray eyes. It would come in handy right about now.”

There was silence and then the frantic opening and closing of drawers as Donnie rummaged through his desk.

“April you’re a genius!!” The tall turtle declared as he held something in his large hand, obscuring it from her view, then he bolted around the room, grabbing a few more components and tools.

“Umm… thanks.” She said as she followed his manic progress. With his shell to her he dropped to a clear space on the floor and worked frantically. Without seeing April knew that his tongue was sticking out as he concentrated on his task.

“Eureka!!” He declared and stood, turning back to her with a pair of mish-mashed but futuristic goggles in his open palm, extended for her to take one.

April smiled and took the gear, noticing that Donnie was placing his own on over his mask. Taking an extra second to settle her pony tail comfortably above the back strap, she slide the tinted lenses over her eyes. Donnie hit a button on the top of his contraption and she mimicked him then flicked her tessin wide. “It’s squirrelanoid bustin’ time!”

* * *

 

“Did she just say deal with it?” Medusa asked, turning to her brother, her black eyes wide. **  
**

Arcos blinked at her, and then looked down at Orange and blinked at him.

“Arcos!” Medusa wailed, “I can feel it moving inside of me!”

“What?” Raph emerged into the common space, glaring at the two siblings.

Orange pointed at Medusa, taking a step back as if he’d be accused of something, “She ate one!”

Raph turned to her, his face incredulous.  “You did what?”

“I thought it was a squirrel!” she spat.

“It’s a squirrel-a-noid,” Orange corrected.

“Well, I know that now, don’t I?” she moved her body from side to side as she spoke in an agitated manner.

“Why did you eat it?” Raph’s voice went an octave higher than Medusa had heard it before.

“Because your brother said not to let it into the sewer!” Medusa’s own voice was rising in pitch also.  

“So you ate it?!”

“It’s a squirrel, snakes eat squirrels!”

“It’s a squirrel-a-noid.”

“Shut up, Mikey,” Raph snapped at him.  

“Don’t tell him to shut up,” Medusa said.

“I can tell him to shut up, whenever I want,” Raph leaned up on his tiptoes to get closer to Medusa’s face, a menacing look on his.  “He’s my brother.”

Medusa opened her mouth to say something, but her eyes went wide, and she shut it again.  “Oh, I don’t feel good.”  She put her hand to her stomach, which had begun to protrude slightly.

Arcos did not look like he was taking the command of dealing with it very well.   He looked at his sister desperately, his brown eyes glancing down from her hands to her face and back again.  He turned to Mikey, “What do we do?!” he demanded.

“We have to wait for her to puke them up,” Mikey said, raising his hands defensively.

“Ooohhhhh,” Medusa moaned, her body waving.

Raph and Mikey took a step away from her, both of their faces expectant.

“What happens if she doesn’t puke them up?” Arcos asked slowly.

Raph and Mikey looked at each other, and then at the bear.  “Uh…she’ll explode?” Mikey ventured.

“Oooohhhhh,” Medusa moaned again, and her stomach popped out a little more.

“Why wouldn’t she puke ‘em up?” Raph asked, taking another step back.

“Because I can’t puke,” Medusa wailed.  

“Uh…” Mikey’s eyes went back and forth trying to avoid looking at the bear and the snake, both of whom were looking at him expectantly, as if he should know what to do.  He looked at Raph for some relief.

That, apparently, was the wrong place to look.  “Whadda we do?” panic barely suppressed.

“How am I supposed to know?” Mikey demanded.

“You’re the one who’s read all of the comic books!”

“Comic books!?” Arcos asked.

Mikey didn’t answer, everyone went silent as a squeak was heard in the direction of the garage.  

“What was that?” Medusa whispered.

“It was a squirrel-a-noid,” Mikey asked honestly, as if she truly didn’t know.

“You stay here,” Arcos put his hand on Medusa’s arm.  “And we will go deal with the squirrel-a-noid.”

“But she’s gonna explode!” Raph pointed a sai at her.

Medusa groaned dramatically.

“She’s not gonna explode,” Arcos said.  “Come on,” Arcos waved his large paw, and slowly started making his way over to the garage.

Mikey and Raph began to follow him, but Medusa grabbed at the boy closest to her, which happened to be Raph.  “You can’t leave me here by myself!”

Raph jerked himself out of her grip, “Yes I can, you’re going to explode!”

“I am not going to explode,” she said indignantly, her face twisting into one that might be construed as nausea.  “I have, like, eight feet worth of stomach.”

“Uhhhh!” Raph gave her a disgusted look, and went to follow Mikey and the bear, but both were already gone.  He slumped his shoulders and glared at Medusa.  

* * *

 

Eliza paused when she heard Acros’ yell for his mother but Splinter’s insistent pressure at her back spurned her forward and she bolted to the bathroom, door already open, as was common when unoccupied. They all raced inside and Splinter glared at the still open door where Phoenix appeared a moment later. **  
**

The ferret woman could smell the tension between the two and felt some of her earlier bravado leave her. She had grown very good at reading Splinter’s physical cues by now and could see that he was reaching the point where his temper was going to make an appearance. His tail thumped loudly on the tiled floor and his hackles had stiffened but not yet risen from his neck as he rejected the healer’s suggestion that he leave their defense to her while he joined the hunt.

Eliza glanced down at the small woman as she took a place next to her, face full of defiance and the waves of annoyance coming off of her making the ferret’s fur prickle. Though Eliza was still on edge herself she could see that someone needed to make steps towards peace. Besides between the energy, body posturing and scent signals that were filling the smaller space she was feeling distinctly uncomfortable and was sure she was not alone in the feeling. Her eyes shifted between the two camps for a moment and then she took breath and let her pride go.

“Phoenix,” she said too brightly in the tension filled space. “would you help me? I think Gwyn could use a bath and maybe you could use the opportunity to give her the once over?” She placed a paw on the woman’s shoulder and turned her gently away from her stare down with the rat-master.

“Sure.” the smaller woman said and accompanied Eliza over to the soaking tub.

“Thank you,” Eliza responded knowing that her friend was doing her part in the ferret’s efforts to smooth over the situation despite her own feelings on the matter. “While you draw a bath, I’ll go get some towels and a change of clothes.” She looked at her friend’s state, nearly as bad as Gwyn’s and added. “I’ll see if I can find something for you too.”

Phoenix looked down at herself and wiped at some of the drying mucus feudally. “Oh, you don’t have to bother.”

“Well,” Eliza crinkled her nose just a bit, “we’ll see.” Turning away she heard the sound of the faucet running. She thought she also heard a surprised grunt and an amazed mumble that sounded like ‘hot water’ but dismissed it as she returned to where Splinter stood by the now closed door with Gwyn still in his arms.

She approached and stroked her daughter’s head, causing her to open her eyes though she refused to uncurl from Splinter’s chest. Her daughter could get extra clingy when she didn’t feel well so Eliza knew that this was just par for the coarse.

“Hey hunny. How about a bath? I bet that will make you feel better.” Gwyn nodded a tiny bit. “That’s my girl. Then my friend is gonna look over you. She’s a kind of doctor, ok.” Eliza was pressed up against Splinter’s arms in the effort to be close to Gwyn and speak softly, she could feel the tension in his muscles increase but ignored it. “I promise she just wants to make sure you’re ok. She’s a very nice lady.” The ferret knew that she was talking more to the rat than the child. Her daughter loved new people and would have already made fast friends with the healer had she been feeling better.

“Okay.” was the muted reply she got and Eliza beamed at her. The girl was a trooper.

The ferret-woman placed a gentle hand on Splinter’s elbow and guided him towards the tub. She snatched the chair the boys used when patching up scrapes or putting on wraps and placed it near the tub but with enough space so that she and Phoenix could maneuver around it. Splinter placed the girl in the chair with Eliza’s assistance and then removed himself a few paces but still close enough to observe. Gwyn folded over on herself, clutching her midsection but was aware enough to keep herself balanced and stably seated.

Eliza frowned as she rubbed Gwyn’s back comfortingly. Despite the circumstances she was not happy with Splinter’s position. She moved from her daughter’s side and grabbed the large curtain that she had constructed and insisted that Donnie install in the room, creating a barrier between the stalls and the open bathing area. She paused expectantly at the halfway mark to wait for the ninja master to move. He looked unhappy at the not so subtle hint but eventually departed the bathing area, but not before giving the healer an intense look.

“I’ll be right back.” she promised before closing the curtain fully. Eliza walked towards the door, intent on retrieving the clothes she had promised when her arm was grabbed by a steel grip.

“Where are you going?” Splinter asked, talking low and bending his face close to her ear.

She responded in the same hushed tone. “Just to get some clothes and towels. I did a fresh load yesterday and hadn’t put them away yet. They’re still by the washer.” Donnie had upgraded the laundry area for April when she lived with them, it was at the end of the hall, barely 6 ft from the bathroom door.

“Stay here.” Splinter said in a tone that brokered no argument. “I will retrieve them.”

Eliza nodded but said nothing, knowing that at the moment any rants about what she could do for herself would not be well taken. Splinter apparently was not done with her and she felt his hand flex causing her upper arm to warm and internal alarms to trigger, he was mad but still didn’t exert enough force to actually hurt her.

“We will be having a discussion later, Elizabeth, about the definition of ‘secret lair’.” Eliza swallowed heavily feeling small, chastised and afraid, unable to answer. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.” She said breathily and then he was gone. She took a second to breathe till her heart slowed then grabbed some soap and washcloths before plastering on a smile and walking back through the curtain.

* * *

 

Phoenix could hear the rat and ferret mutants hissing at each other, but she was unable to make out any of the words.  He’d thumped his tail at her.  He’d thumped his tail at her!  Like she was some sort of...sort of... _he thumped his tail at her!_   She took a deep breath, getting all fussed up about tail thumping-- _he thumped his **tail** at her_ \--was not going to solve any problems at the moment.   _ **He thumped his tail at her!**_  No one thumps their tail at her!  Even Chategris didn’t get away with that!  Of course, he didn’t thump his tail period, but if he did, he would not get away with it!  She was going to have very forthright with this man, he obviously felt he could boss her around.  Whether it was because she was in his home, because she was a woman, because she human, or because she was small didn’t matter.  It was not acceptable.  Under any circumstance.   **  
**

She took another deep breath, to calm herself.  The first one obviously hadn’t.  Two more breaths, taken much in the same way she would breath when trying not to kill her kids, did the trick.

Putting her hand under the hot water, a touch of awe inched its way up her arm.   _They have hot water here,_ the thought seemed independent of the rest of her mind, sending all thoughts of tail-thumping away.   _They have a bathtub, that can be filled with hot water._  Despite having told Eliza that she was alright with her mucky self, which was the truth, she had the undeniable urge to strip naked right then and there and get in the tub.  She’d not forgotten what it felt like to have one’s body submerged hot water, to have steam drifting up into one’s face, to close one’s eyes and just be in the tub.  Maybe they even had candles around here somewhere, and she could light them and sink into the tub with flickering, gentle light all around her.

She shook her head to clear the fantasy and turned to Gwyn.  “You’re stomach still hurts, huh?” she said in as playful a tone as she could.  The girl did not look impressed with her display.  Phoenix had to laugh as she got up from her crouched position near the tub to come and crouched near Gwyn instead.  The look had reminded her instantly of Ailurosa at this age, everything was stupid, grown ups were so dumb and didn’t know anything about life or having fun, but Mama needed to be near, because when something was wrong, all of sudden, she could fix it.  That the girl buried her face in both her mother’s chest, and in Splinter’s chest, was not lost on her.  She was still young enough that she needed an adult to make it better, even if she didn’t, in reality, need the adult to make it better.

She softened her eyes to look at the girl in the chair.  Her torso was black, and then faded into a light gray, then a black again, the visual confirmation of a type of cramping.   That would make sense, having one’s stomach emptied of its contents caused cramping, and overfilled stomach caused cramping, and an underfilled stomach caused cramping.  The poor girl had all three going on.  She also had various splotches over her body that could indicate anything from a bruise or scrape to an overstretched muscle.  She ignored them for now.  They could be dealt with after the cramps.

Gathering the golden ants in her hands, she put her hand on Gwyn’s shoulder.  She was half expecting her to jump, but was relieved when she didn’t.   “You’ve got quite a few bumps and bruises on you.  We can deal with them later, though.  Your stomach is unhappy,” she said, “because you’ve eaten three Thanksgiving dinners and then thrown them all up.”  Phoenix shook her head sadly, “That’s what you get for eating squirrel for Thanksgiving.”  When the ants had all left her palms, she wasn’t sure if she’d done any good with Gwyn’s stomach.   She much preferred injuries she could see than one’s she couldn’t.

She smiled up at Eliza as she came back over, in what she hoped was a nice smile--the kind that said, “Don’t you worry, now.  Everything will be alright.”


	5. Chapter 5

_This day shelling sucks._ Gwyn thought as she sat slumped in the chair. All she wanted to do right now was curl up into someone warm, at this point she didn’t care who, and be held till she fell asleep. Everything hurt, but her tummy was absolutely unbearable and even thinking about the reason why it hurt was too much for her brain right now. She was sure it was going to haunt her later. So she pushed it from her mind for now.

So when the woman who had knuckled her in the gut tried to make jokes about thanksgiving squirrels she was not impressed. Granted, she had already thrown up on the lady so really they were kinda already even. Then she felt something warm traveling down her skin till it came to her torso and spiraled inward, wrapping her waist and slowing spreading back out again till it was circling her and gently easing the cycle of tightening and loosening that her body had been torturing her with. The only way she would describe it was like pulling a blanket fresh from the dryer and rolling up in it till you were completely encased, like a happy warm snuggle burrito.

When the warmth started to fade away Gwynevere could tell that her stomach was better than it had been before. Not 100%, it still hurt, too empty but she had no desire to put anything into it, but better than before the blanketing healing heat.

The healer was looking at her mom and so didn’t immediately see the look of wonder on the young girls’ face but when she turned her gaze back Gwyn gave her a dimpled lopsided grin. “That was cool.” she said with a touch of awe.

“She is pretty neat isn’t she.” Her mom chimed in. “Miss Phoenix knows a lot about medicine and herbs. We are very blessed that she came to help today.” Her mom had that slight tone in her voice that cued Gwyn that she should be thankful and show some respect.

“Thank you Miss Phoenix,” Gwyn chirped but sat up a little straighter and rubbed her abused torso, “but I wish you hadn’t pushed so hard.” and made an exaggerated face.

The healer woman laughed and rubbed her shoulder briskly in a good natured way. “Well, in this case better out than in.” She smiled but continued in a gentle manner. “How are you feeling now?”

“Better, but still really sore.” Gwynevere paused to think about her body as a whole. “Kinda empty and tired and…” she looked down at herself wrinkling her nose in disgust. “completely gross.”

Both women laughed and Gwyn smiled at her ability to make them do so. “Well, lets get that taken care of.” Her mom helped her strip down to underwear and sports bra, tossing the soiled clothes to the far side of the room to be dealt with later. When she went to strip her down more and Gwyn pulled away, overwhelmed with a sense of shyness. She had been taking care her hygiene needs for years and wasn’t sure about getting completely naked with a stranger in the room.

“How about you soak for a bit like that.” Her mom said, knowing immediately what Gwyn was worried about without her saying anything. “I can wash your hair for you.”

“Okay.” Gwyn loved the feel of having someone else wash her hair and was easily persuaded. With her mom’s and the healer’s assistance she allowed her stiff body to be lowered into the warm tub and soon gave herself over to their attentions. For the first time since this whole horrible ordeal had started she was able to relax.

* * *

 

“Just Phoenix,” the healer said, when she heard the prefix ‘miss’.  It sounded silly, and was a misnomer anyway.  Like calling someone Miss Doctor.  “Or if you want to be more formal, The Phoenix.  Although that sounds silly when you talk.  ‘Excuse me, The Phoenix, could you please pass me the salt?’”  She used a snooty tone of voice as she spoke the last phrase, and then smiled as Gwyn did. **  
**

She wasn’t surprised by the girl’s body shyness, but it brought back a quick and bittersweet pain of Aries, her first to go through the process, pulling away from her.  As she lowered the girl into the water, she could see her light that was not a light uncoil, almost like little fuzzy springs.  When she glanced at Eliza, her aura was still completely normal, with a very pale gray spot on her arm, and buzzing.  She smiled to herself, _The buzzing must be the pregnancy,_ she thought.  She decided she liked it.

“You have a few bumps and bruises, you want me to take care of them for you?” she asked.  She didn’t normally heal little things, she felt it was good to get hurt some, so that one didn’t become dependant on being healed.  One day, she wouldn’t be here, and her kids needed to know how to handle a little pain.  However, Gwyn was not her child, and the girl had been through enough that Phoenix would have healed the scrapes and scratches on one of her own children in the same situation.

When the girl nodded, “Yes, please,” she put her hand on Gwyn’s shoulder, and glanced up at her mother again.  “What did you do to your arm?” she asked.  She immediately regretted the question, and put her attention back to Gwyn and the little golden tingle.  There was very little that she could have done to her arm between the door and here, so she either bopped it on something, or something bopped her.  

The various little injuries on the girl began to heal, leaving pink skin, and then the pink turned to it’s natural peach, though a little paler than the rest of her.  She heard the door to the bathroom  open and then close again, and tensed instinctively.  Gwyn sat up a little straighter, and Eliza went to the curtain to peek behind it.  As soon as she got the edge, a pile of towels popped out from the other side, without a word or sound.

“That should do it,” Phoenix said to Gwyn, trying to get herself to relax.  “Your stomach will probably be sore for a while.  I probably bruised your muscle trying to make your retch.  It’s not one of those things that can be gently,” she looked genuinely sorry.

* * *

 

The ferret-woman rubbed her arm slightly at the Phoenix’s comment but gave no answer. She knew first-hand how powerful the ninja master actually was, as a result she also knew that he had restrained himself. Even still the area where he gripped her was tender. If she were still human her pale skin would have easily shown a hand shaped bruise. Instead she observed as her friend healed her daughter with fascination and gratitude. Gwyn was relaxing into the attention as her body became whole, that is until the sound of the door could be heard on the other side of the partitioned room. **  
**

Eliza went to the curtain and jumped slightly when Splinter thrust the pile of towels at her. Though the curtain was not parted very much she could see him looking at her with a neutral detachment as he waited for her to take the pile from him. It was almost worse than seeing the anger in his reddish brown eyes. She could read nothing about his mood when he was hidden behind that neutral mask. She accepted the linens with a dip of her head and long blink, showing her submission and gratitude. His only response was a barely audible puff of air as he turned, the curtain falling back in place hiding him from her view once again.

She returned to the Phoenix and Gwyn to find that they had finished the healing process, her daughter looking whole and healthy again, if a bit worn out. “You are looking much better!” she said brightly making sure that her voice carried beyond the curtain. “Thank you so much for coming Phoenix, I don’t want to think about what could of happened had you not been here.”

She heard the beginnings of the healer trying to downplay her role but waived off the protest. “You are a lifesaver and you know it.” She quipped jovially. “Now let me get in there. Someone,” she said teasingly as her and the healer switched places behind Gwynevere, “is in for a much deserved wash and style.” Gwyn giggled and disappeared under the water, shaking her head to soak her long locks and popped back up again, prepared to be pampered. She moaned a tiny bit and laid a hand on her torso but her dimple smiled was not diminished.

“I want a fish tail. Oh or maybe a french-braid.” Gwyn stated, excited about choosing a style for her hair to be plated into after the bath. Mother and daughter fell into a easy rhythm of talk that included inside jokes and small details of their beauty rituals, excluding the world and ignoring the horrors of the day, choosing just to indulge in the moment.

Eventually Gwyn was clean and ready to leave the tub. Eliza accepted the towel that Phoenix handed her but frowned as she noticed that the pile was missing a few key items from the delicates section that Gwyn would need.

“Could you please go and fetch the laundry basket? Splinter should have brought it back with him.” she asked the healer, her own hands full with tussling Gwyn’s long hair dry. “We are missing a few things. We could also look for something in your size if you would like to freshen up.”

* * *

 

She watched the mother and daughter laugh and wash with another bittersweet pang, but it wasn’t hurtful enough to turn away.  It was something she would have done with Ailurosa, had they had a bathtub.  Or hot water.  Or if Ailurosa had long hair.  She chuckled, well, maybe it wasn’t something she’d have done with Ailurosa, but the idea was similar. **  
**

When Eliza asked her to to fetch the laundry basket, it was a reluctant relief.  Pulling at the heartstrings was not something that The Phoenix was good at enduring, and the display in front of her pulled very hard.

When she emerged from the other side of the curtain, Splinter, who was facing the door, did not turn around, but his ears swivelled at her approach.  She squashed down the urge to smack him in the back of the head between them.  “Eliza asked for the laundry basket,” she said quietly.

Without turning around, he motioned to the basket beside him.  “I heard her,” he said.

The sound of his voice struck her in a distinctly different way than his swiveling of ears had.  How long had she listened to it, trying to make out what it said?  How many times had she followed it in her half-wakefulness to see where it lead her, only to always be cut off before reaching the destination?  It pulled at her, as if trying to sink her into the ground, root her to the spot, so she was immobile.  It was like finding treasure that one had been looking for on a map for years, only to find a trunk full of bones.

She had obviously taken too long to move, because he glanced behind him, his head moving on just his neck, the rest of him still as a statue.  It was a trait that Phoenix envied on long necked mutants, she thought it looked elegant and impressive.  He glanced at the basket, as if giving her permission once again to take, and she felt the annoyance come back.  

She hurried over and grabbed the plastic tub, making an effort to keep it away from her body so as not to contaminate it with the mess that she wore.  It was starting to smell sour, and if she could smell it, she knew the two mutants in the room must be almost sick with the smell.  Her annoyance quickly became overrun by shame.  Even for a human being who had been out of human society for twenty years, smelling was not something to be proud of.

She lifted the curtain a little at about where she thought Eliza might be, and pushed the basket through.  “Here you go,” she said gently.  She knew that if Gwyn did not want to undress fully in front of her, then she wouldn’t want to change fully in front of her either.  She was already on the other side of the curtain, she might as well stay there.

She gave a deep sigh, and turned back around to face the back of her reluctant host.  He was tall, much taller than his turtles, and still.  Unnaturally still.  Rats weren’t that still.  Rats, on the contrary, were always moving.   His stillness was disconcerting.

Her eyes were still soft, with the glow that was not a glow surrounding everything, and she noticed, for the first time, that his leg and lower torso were an amorphous dark gray, indicating a deep bruise.  She had a little fight with herself in her head, as she stared at the back of his head, as to what she should do.  She glanced back behind her, at the curtain, and then at him again.  “You’ve hurt your leg,” she said, feeling dumb.

“Yes,” he replied without turning around.

She waited for him to say something else, and when he didn’t, she took a deep breath to lower her heartbeat.  This was very vexatious, to say the least.  He wasn’t making it easy to make things…easier.

“Would you like me to help you with it?”

“No,” the words came out almost as soon as her’s were done.  His tail, where it looped on the floor, raised slightly, just as Medusa’s did when she was about to throw a tantrum.

She pursed her lips, and watched the segmented appendage raise, as if in slow motion, and indignation slowly raised itself in her torso at the same rate.  She had put a stop to tail thumping, at least in her direction, over a decade ago.  She was not going to endure it now from a grown man, whose actions toward her friend were suspect in her eyes.  

“Don’t you dare thump your tail at me,” she said, her high voice deadly, her eyes squinted.

The rat flipped around, his own amber orbs wide with a kind of shock.  He raised his tail high, at the same time his eyes squinting in rage.

Just as it hit the floor with a resounding _thmp!_ , Phoenix took several steps forward.  “Ho, ho, ho!  Oh no, you don’t!” Her voice dropped an octave, like she was speaking to an angry child.  While pointing at the floor where his tail now rested, she strode over to him, her eyes a fire, her shoulders back, her head up.  “Just because you have a tail doesn’t mean you get to go stomping it at people who don’t have one!”  Her voice reverberated off the tiles in the bathroom, and for a moment, the sour smell that she was wearing seemed that much stronger in her nose.  That only made her more angry, an emotion to push the shame of the smell, and the embarrassment at her predicament, away.  “If this is how you all act in the sewers, it is no wonder your sons act the way they do above ground!”

* * *

 

There were few moments that Eliza felt truly at peace anymore. Living below ground had become claustrophobic and there was always an edge of tension in the lair that lay just underneath the surface of daily life. Whether because of her own poor attitude, which she now knew was at least partially the fault of her hormonal imbalances, or the stresses and outside conflicts that seemed drawn to the Hamato clan.The squirrelanoid infestation just being the latest example. **  
**

So it seemed out of place that in the middle of all the turmoil she was having a moment of simple calm as she ran the the brush through her daughter’s damp locks. The simple movements grounded her and allowed her to detatch from the chaos that existed just beyond the curtain and outside the bathroom door.

Before she could start separating the moisture darkened locks into sections the laundry basket slide into the space a few feet away. She stepped away from her daughter to retrieve it, sparing a small smile in the direction of the curtain. She waited for a small moment for the Phoenix to emerge but was grateful for the privacy when she didn’t. She set the basket down on the chair and started rooting through it for some clothes.

“Gwyn, change out of those wet things and finish drying off. Here,” she handed her daughter undergarments and a comfortable pj set with a cartoon sushi theme. “change into these but put your socks and shoes back one.” Eliza paused, not really want to delve back into their current reality but knowing it was a necessity. “Just in case we need to run.”

“Kay.” She took the pile and moved over to the drier shower area. Eliza kept her back turned to afford her daughter the illusion of personal space while she looked through the basket for a couple of items from the girls mismatched size wardrobe that may fit the small healer, should she chose to avail herself of the facilities. She wasn’t having much luck.

“Mom.”

“Yes dear.”

“Did you wash my hoodie?” Gwyn asked as she came over, still in the middle of pulling down her smiley face crunchyroll top. “I’m chilly.”

“I think so.”  Eliza started to check but the sound of a raised voice drifted towards them through the curtained barrier. She felt an uncomfortable heat traveling up the back of her neck as the words started to become more focused.

“Uh oh.” her daughter mumbled as she looked in the direction of the unhappy and increasingly loud voice.

Eliza motioned her to be quite and made her way to the curtain. She stepped through just in time to here Phoenix  yell at Splinter. “If this is how you all act in the sewers, it is no wonder your sons act the way they do above ground.“

There was a moment of pure silence when she was sure that everyone’s heart stopped beating, including her own. Then without even being aware of making the movement she found herself next to the rat-mutant, pressed into his side, her arms wrapped around his strained bicep.

“Please.” She poured all the emotion she could into that one word. All she wanted was to have peace, to have both protection and a friend. It didn’t help that Phoenix had just obliterated the small measure of leniency that the ninja master had afforded her. But she needed the small woman, in more ways than one. At the same time she owed Splinter her gratitude and loyalty. She leaned into him more, lifting her face towards his ear, their cheeks rubbing together in an unintended nuzzle. “Please.” She begged, hoping for leniency, for peace, for everyone to calm the heck down. They had plenty of trouble outside the door, they didn’t need anymore on this side.

* * *

 

The anger that was about to spout out of the healer’s formerly red-head dissipated when Eliza had wrapped her arms about the rat man’s and she’d pressed herself against his side.  Perhaps, despite what Eliza had said and the feelings that she’d gotten, Phoenix had misread what this relationship was, and he was, indeed, teaching her more things about the life of a mutant than simply living out of the sight of human beings.    She lowered her shoulders and physically took a step backwards, resentment welling up in her at the same time as shame at feeling forced to do so.  Again, the acrid smell of vomit filled her nostrils and she felt tears well up in her eyes from embarrassment.  She kept her eyes on his, as he did her, his gaze intense, not even giving any indication that he knew Eliza was at his side.  She noticed a moment’s hesitation from him, though, where he seemed to be deciding what to do.   **  
**

“Sensei!” A cry came through the closed door of the bathroom.

Phoenix immediately took a fighting stance and whipped out the little probes, ready to throw them at the door.  At the same time, Splinter whipped around, seeming to push Eliza out of the way, but holding her up from being thrown at the same time.  It was an impressive move, Phoenix thought at his back as he did it, simply the way his entire body moved, even his tail, to put Eliza in a different location.  It happened in the blink of an eye, and then his katana was drawn, and the door opening.

“Sensei!” it was Raph, with Medusa behind him.  “She swallowed one!”  He pointed at the snake accusingly with his sai.

“You what?” Phoenix stepped forward as Splinter stepped out of the way of the door.

“They told me not to let it get into the sewers!” Medusa hissed.  “I didn’t let it get into the sewers!”

“So you ate it?!” Raph turned on her.

“What have I told you about eating things from the sewers!?” Phoenix yelled.

“Squirrels don’t come from the sewers!” Medusa cried.

“You’re going to get e. coli!” Phoenix yelled.

Medusa raised her hind body, her black eyes ablaze as she stared at her mother.  “It looked like a squirrel!  It smelled like a squirrel!  It tasted like a squirrel!  I thought it was a squirrel!”

“So you ate it?!” Raph’s voice went up an octave as he asked her again.

“Don’t you dare thump your tail at me!” Phoenix thundered at the same time.

Medusa dropped her tail gently, and her face twisted into one of discomfort.  “Mama,” she whined.  “Do something!  It hurts.”

“Stop whining,” her mother told her in an irritated voice.  “I’ve seen you eat bigger things than that,” the pointed to the growing bulge in Medusa’s belly.

“Uhhhh….” Medusa put her head up straight, showing the thin, paler skin of her neck as she groaned dramatically.

Phoenix, without any warning, walked up to her daughter and all but punched the girl under her sternum.

Nothing happened.

Medusa looked down at her, her black eyes wide.

Phoenix tried it again, pushing her entire body weight as Medusa held herself up.  Again, nothing happened.

“Mama!” Medusa wailed.

Fear, real fear, plastered itself on her mother’s face.  “I’m not strong enough to induce a retch reflex!”  The fear disappeared, replaced by anger.  “You’ve grown too big!”

“I can’t help it that I’ve grown too big!” she snapped back.


	6. Chapter 6

Splinter had many attributes that he had passed onto his sons, things that even his age and mastery of ninjutsu had not completely quelled. One of those was definitely the temper that he shared with his second son Raphael.  He was absolutely incensed that this slip of a woman was dictating to him what he could and could not do with his own tail in his own home and then had to gall to insult his children on top of it. The fact that he knew his sons were mostly likely the cause of a myriad of trouble when they ventured above ground, goodness knows they brought plenty of it back home below with them, was not unknown to him but it was not this stranger’s place to point out. **  
**

Then there was Mrs. VonHertz, hanging on his arm and begging him to be calm. Like a child pleading to keep a pet after they had already bought the creature home and it had commenced chewing up his favorite slippers. He had no problem saying no to a five year old Michelangelo but for some reason the the ferret woman’s soft soft curves pressed along his side were causing him to waiver.

He looked into the defiant eyes of the small woman, for some reason Elizabeth had an attachment to the creature and he was determined to know the reason why.

While in the midst of suppressing his anger and self deliberations, he heard Raphael call for him and inevitably burst thru the door. He shifted Elizabeth behind him in case trouble was not far behind his son. Technically, his assumption was not incorrect.

He remained stoic as mother and daughter proceeded to bicker at each other. He noted that Gwynevere had pulled back the curtain and was watching the scene with a mixture of curiosity, trepidation and a touch of sympathy. She had after all just been through the same ordeal. Though the girl had more sense that to voluntarily eat the pest in the first place.

When he saw the healer punch the girl his heart stopped and his lip curled. _Was she a fool!_ The rat was relieved when the desired effect was not immediately forth coming.

“ENOUGH!!” His command echoed off the tiled walls and  everyone froze. He let the pause linger till he was sure all were paying attention. “Gwynevere.”

The girl jumped at hearing her name. “Yes, Mister Splinter.”

“Bring me a pillowcase from the laundry basket.” There was the sound of cloth being shifted as the girl scrambled to obey. Several sets of eyes fell on him as brows and ridges lifted in confusion.

“Got one.”

“Give it to her.” Splinter jerked his muzzle in the direction of the small woman and the girl quickly complied. “Now you and your mother go to your room. Raphael will escort you.” He heard the beginning of protests but quickly cut them off. “You will stay there until this infestation is eliminated. Do I make myself clear.”

There was a stubborn silence and he could feel the electricity from Elizabeth’s fur as her tail puffed and brushed against his own. She huffed and moved behind him to grasp her daughter’s hand then headed towards the door, pausing only to give a comforting squeeze to the healer’s shoulder. Gwyn halted their progress when she was next the snake girl.

“I know it hurts.” She said and haltingly raised a hand to place on the large mutant’s skinny arm. With just a slight hesitation she slide her slender fingers down the exposed flesh in a petting motion as she smiled at the snake with soft eyes. “But your mom’s punches hurt too so you must be strong.” Mrs. VonHertz tugged on Gwynevere’s arm and the child got the hint and dropped her hand to squeeze the other girl’s. “Get better and we can hang out later. Right?”

The snake-girl nodded slowly. “ummm… sure.”

Gwyn beamed and then both females were out the door. Splinter looked at Raphael, conveying the unspoken command to follow them.

“Yes, Sensei” and the turtle teen left without further protest, almost looking relieved for an excuse to depart, closing the door in his wake.

The room was now empty of his family. Of the people he wished to protect from further harm. Leaving him alone with a large natural enemy and an unnaturally gifted human.

“Healer.” he said as he turned to address the latter.

“Phoenix.” she quipped back, still obviously annoyed at him.

“Phoenix,” he restated, not wishing to cause a fuss over a small detail. “hold the cloth over the girl’s mouth,” he paused to reassess the size of the snake’s jaw “if you can. Be ready to catch the vermin as they are expelled.”

He approached the snake only to have her hiss at him softly, his instincts screamed at him to back away but he tapped them down and held his ground. He waited for Phoenix to move into position and then placed his hand over the spot he had seen her hit earlier. “Here?” He looked into the small woman’s eyes, seeking for confirmation. She seemed to stare at him for an extended moment before swallowing heavily and nodded.  

The ninjutsu-master felt the muscled scales tensing underneath his touch and focused on the amount of force he would need to exert. With a measured breath he pulled back and tried to keep the frustration of the day out of the blow. As his fist made contact he heard something crack and knew he had not been successful in that respect even as the snake-child started to convulse.

* * *

 

The command of the rat mutant almost made Phoenix jump out of her skin.  There was moment when the world seemed to stand still, no one moved, no one made a sound, his voice simply echoed off of the tiles in the bathroom.  The he called for Gwyn, began ordering everyone about, and there was no way anyone could say no to the man. **  
**

Her heart warmed when Gwyn had stopped to comfort Medusa.  Her daughter looked at Gwyn with extreme uncertainty in her eyes, to the point of dropping her head to watch her stroke her arm.  “Ummm…sure…” she said, as if Gwyn had asked her what color the sky above ground was, green or red?

“Healer,” Splinter said.

The word was like a punch in her gut, it took her breath away.  To hear _that_ voice, the voice that spoke to her,  speak to her in such a manner, when it had been pleasant sing-song mumbles for so long, was downright hurtful.  It made her angry, this mutant who seemed to have stolen to sound inside her head.  “Phoenix,” she snapped back.  She wasn’t just some random healer come down from the street.  Well, she was, but that wasn’t the point.

When he had repeated her title back to her, it took her off guard.  It wasn’t the response she had been expecting.  She was expecting a comeback or an angry retort.  She gave Medusa a slight kick when she hissed as the rat mutant approached, but she couldn’t blame the girl for doing so.  the man had just thundered an order and then kept the orders coming.  She was even more surprised when he gestured to the spot she struck to try and get Medusa to retch.  She wasn’t sure why, it was obvious as soon as he began ordering people about what was going to happen.  But she didn’t want it to happen, now that it had come to it, whether the girl could have gotten e. coli or not.  It was someone striking her child.

But she wasn’t strong enough to do it anymore.

She regarded him for a long moment, hoping that the voice that was not her voice would come to her, to instruct her to do something other than have this man punch her daughter in the diaphragm.    His eyes were a pretty tawny color, she thought absently, but that was the only thing that came to her.  She nodded slowly, there was nothing else for her to do.

She held the pillowcase over Medusa’s mouth, reminding her of the barf-bags they had on the airplanes when she was younger and going to gym competitions.  Then the rat had struck her and she heard something crack.  She gasped at the same time, having to fight a maternal rage that seemed to erupt from somewhere in her own gut.  The urge to leap at Splinter and do whatever she could to hurt him was almost overwhelming, but it only lasted a moment. _He didn’t intentionally hurt her_ , she told herself, as the snake began to undulate.

Phoenix hadn’t seen her move like this since she was a young teenager, and seeing it now made her stomach turn.   The convulsions were instinctively frightening, even to the mother of the creature who held the pillow case against her mouth.   Medusa opened her mouth, and kept opening it,  and opening it,  and opening it.   She put her arms around her mother at a particularly hard retch, pressing the top of her muzzle against the woman’s chest.   The pillowcase was suddenly sodden,  along with Phoenix’s drying front.

She felt a stab in her hand and blood began to soak into the cloth where she held it.   _Not a good time_ , she told the squirrelanoid bite.   It didn’t listen.  Medusa’s upper jaw began to push her backward.   "Curly Que ,“ she said, “you need to hinge your jaw.”

She could see the snake work her mouth to rehinge it, and it made fear surge through her again.  Shame overwhelmed her, for a moment, again, at being afraid of her own child.  Soon, however, Medusa stopped, lifted her head slightly, tears coming down her cheeks.  Phoenix snapped the pillowcase closed, another small gush of blood coming from her hand, “All done?” she asked.

Medusa nodded slowly, took her arms from around her mother, and held her ribcage.  “Ouch,” she said huskily.

Phoenix took a deep breath, it stank of vomit, both stale and new.  “Serves you right,” she said very quietly, “for eating things from the sewer.”

* * *

 

Raphael left the bathroom and closed the door with a sigh of relief, thankful that he was able to pass off the snake’s situation to her human mom and his sensei. It wasn’t that he didn’t have sympathy for Medusa. He’d been there. It was just that he wasn’t the kind of guy to sit there and hold someone’s hand. Especially when that someone had threatened to eat him more than once. Actually, it seemed fitting that one of her meals was fighting back, maybe she wouldn’t throw that particular threat around so casually anymore. **  
**

Mrs. V and Gwyn weren’t waiting for him so Raph looked down the hallway just in time to see the tip of the ferret’s tail disappear around the corner. He jogged to catch up to them, not because he didn’t believe that they couldn’t make it to their shared room on their own, but he could tell that Master Splinter was in a bad mood and it was in the teen’s best interest to follow orders.

He turned the corner and wasn’t expecting the ferret to be stopped just past the bend. He bumped into Mrs. V. and had to pinwheel his arms to prevent from falling. It was a wasted effort because in the next instant Gwyn had tackled him to the ground.

“Watch it Kid!”

“Oh Raphie. I’m so sorry!” Gwyn was snuggling into him as he was becoming uncomfortable with the display of affection.

“Why?” He asked genuinely confused.

Gwyn sat up and rocked back, settling her weight on his plastron and Raph held back a grunt. The little short stack was solid. “For laughing when Mikey told me about when you had squirrel guts.” If anyone else had admitted to laughing at him behind his back they would have been in for a pounding. Gwyn, on the other hand, had a habit of punishing herself and making you feel like a jerk if you added to it. Or in Raph’s case, a bigger jerk than usual.

“Don’t sweat it. After today, I figure we’re more than even.” He tussled her damp hair and then wiped his hand on her hoodie, causing her laugh before she swooped down and hugged him again. His arms failed wide, unsure of where to put them, and he looked past the girls’ shoulder pleading with Mrs. V. to help him out.

“Okay you two.” The adult said, coming to his rescue. “Let’s get…”

The rest of her sentence was cut off as a loud shriek could be heard coming from multiple directions within the lair, making it difficult to pin down the source. Mrs. V. pivoted and turned her attention down the hall, looking at the first room, which happened to be Donnie’s. From his position on the floor he was able to see a green glow coming through the gap underneath the door.

“Oh shell.” The green glow was soon accompanied by the yells of what sounded like April and his brainiac brother. The door exploded in a shower of splinters and the prone teen only had enough time to roll to the side, turning his shell to the destruction, tucking Gwyn against him to shelter her from the debris.

He peaked back over his shell just in time to see a fully mutated squirrelanoid pouncing and taking down Mrs. V. as she screamed in terror.

Raphael pushed Gwyn against the wall as he got up to attack the monster. Fury and fear battling within him but both pushed aside as he pulled his sais and his only focus became killing the freaky pest.

Leaping high he aimed for the creature’s back only to swatted away by it’s tail and sent careening into the wall with a resounding crash. He shook his head to clear the fuzz from the blow. The space became eerily quiet. The screaming had stopped. Raphael looked up and had to cover his mouth to keep from puking. The squirrelanoid had lifted the ferret woman up and had it’s second extended mouth nearly shoved down Mrs. V’s throat.

“Mrs. V!!”

“By Einstein’s mustache!”

The sound of April and Donnie’s surprised declarations brought him out of his macabre reverie and he launched himself back into the battle at the same time they did. April brought her tensen down on the creature’s wrist causing it to drop the large ferret who landed limply, with no attempt to cushion her own fall. Raphael winced in sympathy even as he and Donnie pressed the attack.

The three of them fell into a rhythm. Donnie would strike with naginata blade out, cutting at strategic points, taking out tendons and using his reach to make sure the creature didn’t break away from their half-circle formation. April acted as a lure, gradually moving the squirrelanoid away from Mrs. V’s unconscious body even as Gwyn slipped in and tried to rouse her mother. Raph attacked with bruising blows and puncturing points. Waiting for just the right opening. It came when Donnie delivered a strong uppercut with the blunted end of his weapon, snapping the monster’s head up, exposing its’ neck for Raph’s thirsty steal. The incised teen didn’t hesitate and plunged his prongs deep into the mutated flesh. After a few twitches the monster went still.

The sound of the three teens heavy breathing was interrupted by Gwyn’s attempts to wake up her mom and she looked to April with glistening eyes. Donnie was the first to move and knelt down to take the woman’s pulse. He nodded like everything was fine there and then swiped a finger across Mrs. V’s muzzle, a glop of familiar looking yellowish spittle clinging to his fingertip.

“This doesn’t look good.” The brains of the family said and then lowered the goggles that were resting on top of his head down over his eyes. It was only then that Raphael noticed that April had a matching pair hanging around her neck. After a moment Donnie looked back with his lips set in a grim line. “She’s infected,” there was a slight pause as the genius looked ready to deliver even more bad news, “and it’s already split once. The divisions are accelerating.”

“Aw shell.”

* * *

 

For once Donatello completely agreed with the assessment of his cruder brother. They were totally and royally shelled. **  
**

Donatello felt April come up behind him only to pass him by a go to comfort Gwyn, who was still trying to shake her mother awake even as tears streaked down her face.

“Shhh… Gwyn relax. We’ll fix this. I promise, your mom will be okay.” April cooed and petted the girl, getting her to calm her hysterics. “That’s better.” She hugged the preteen close to her while looking at Donnie with a freaked out expression completely opposite of the demeanor she was displaying.

_Now what?_ She mouthed and when he just shrugged his shoulders in defeat she scowled at him with an intensity that clearly said _Well you better figure something out!_

_Okay okay_ he mouthed in response, holding his hands up in defeat, hoping to ward off any more nasty looks from her direction. He thought for a second before turning to Raph.

“Have you seen that healer Lady? She seemed to know how to handle this stuff.”

Raph cocked a thumb over his shoulder and back down the hall. “Yeah, but she and Splinter already have their hands full with 10 feet of trouble.”

Donnie quirked an eye ridge, silently asking for a further explanation.

“Lady legless decided to have a squirrely snack.”

“No.”

“Yup.” Rapheal confirmed, popping the ‘p’. “She’s having her stomach pumped the hard way right now. By Sensei.”

“For the love of periodic tables, when will people learn to keep their mouths closed around these things.” The frustrated genuis grumbled. “Best not to bother them.”

Having the easiest option ruled out for the moment, the brainy teen started to run through his options, occasionally verbalizing them. “No that won’t work. Ugh this would all be so simple if I just knew what happened the ipecac.”

“Hipp-o-what?” Gwyn asked, having unburied herself from April’s shoulder in time to hear the tail end of his ramblings.

“Ip-PE-cac,” He restated. “It’s commonly used to induce vomiting. Very potent and effective and used to be recommended for accidental poisoning situations, though not anymore. I keep it on hand just in case.” As he was explaining it’s use out of the corner of his eye he noticed a change in Raphael’s body language. His arms were crossed over his upper plastron defensively while toeing the ground nervously.

“Raph.”

“It wasn’t me!”

“Raphael. What did you do!” Donnie asked, his voice pitching up.

“It was the squirt!” Raphael thrust a finger towards Mikey’s room. “I found him with it last week, messing with my protein shakes!! I was just holding onto it as insurance against the next time he got it in his head to prank me.” He huffed and turned his shell. “Though knowing his cast iron gut it probably wouldn’t even work.”

Donatello swiped his hand down his face. He didn’t have time for this. “Just go get it.” He said past his fingertips.

Raphael ducked into his room as Donnie stood and addressed April. “Sit her up if you can. I’ll be right back, I need to get some supplies.” With that he sprinted to his lab and grabbed the smelling salts and a bottle of water from his personal supply along with a fairly clean mug. In passing he noticed one of the Krangg shock sticks on his desk. He had plans to dismantle it and possibly incorporate it into some weaponry. Though he would never admit it, Casey’s gear had actually inspired that particular train of thought. He grabbed it, thinking it might come in useful. Finally the turtle teen dumped his waste basket, piled in the supplies and headed back to where April and Gwyn were working together to prop Mrs. V. up against the wall.

Raph was just joining them and Donatello was a step behind him. Taking the ipecac syrup from his brother he added a measured amount to the mug along with a swallow of water, giving them a swirl to ensure they were mixed.

He passed April the smelling salts and positioned the solid wastebucket on the ferret’s lap.

April looked at him and he gave her a confirming nod. It was now or never. She cracked the lid to the smelling salts and instantly the mutated woman thrashed, trying to save her sensitive nose from the assault. Raph and Gwyn were at her sides, keeping her from bolting in the moment of panic before she recognized she was among friends.

“Calm down Mrs. V.” Donnie said in his gentlest tone. “You’re safe.” Though her eyelids blinked heavily she remained awake and Donnie indicated that April should put the salts away. “Here, drink this.” the turtle teen pressed the mug to her lips.  

“Wha… what?” Mrs. V. turned her head away groggily, still not completely aware of what was going on.

“Let us help you. Just drink.” He was reluctant to actually give her the details of what was about to happen. Nobody really wants to throw up and he found the anticipation always made the event even worse. Apparently his gentle prodding was enough and she drank down the dossed water though she grimaced at the taste. After that everyone kind of leaned away from the mutant, not looking forward to what was going to happen next. Raph actually got up and turned his shell to the taboo. Donnie smirked, he had always had more tolerance for this kind of thing than his hot-headed sibling.

The ferret was becoming more aware and shifted back against wall so that she sat up straighter. This brought her attention to the bucket in her lap. “What’s this for?”

Donnie smiled nervously, ducking partly into his shell. “You may want to hold onto that.”

“Huh?” she looked around for clarification but all the teens avoided meeting her eyes. “Gwwwyynnn.” She drawled, her tone full of demanding desperation.

“You got squirrel guts mom.” She said bluntly. “Trust me, this is better than getting punched.”

* * *

 

Medusa waved to the side, her arms folded across her stomach.  She moaned, and then moan was drowned out by a scream.   The snake looked from her mother to the rat mutant surprised.

Splinter’s ears had perked forward and he made a dash to the door.  The scream had to have come from either Eliza, Gwyn, or the redheaded girl, it was definitely female.  Either that, or one of the turtles was going to be made fun of when all of this was over.

Just before he was about to Phoenix out of the way, the small woman held up the pillowcase.  “What do I do with these?!”  Her voice was raised in panic.  He wasn’t going to just sprint away and leave her with a bag full of soggy squirrel mutants, was he?

He stopped, turned, and glared at her, his ears flat.  Her panic went away, replaced by anger, and she glared back at him.

“Keep your hand on the opening and put the case on the floor,” he instructed, taking a deep breath.  She did as she was instructed, her glare disappearing as she concentrated on doing what she was told.  “Keep your hands still,” he said, broking no argument.

She did, and gasped as he took his katana and began to skewer the pillowcase.  He paused occasionally, his ears shifting as if to catch a sound.  Then he would skewer the pillowcase again, each time a small sound coming from where he made contact.

“Check it,” he said.

Phoenix would have guessed that he was annoyed by the tone of his voice, not at all the calm music she was used to.  She peeked in the pillowcase and then quickly closed it again.    “You got them all,” she confirmed.

Then he was gone.

She’d blinked and he’d disappeared, like a magic trick.  Had she lost time somehow?  She looked to Medusa, who seemed as a loss as she was.  “Did he just vanish?” she asked.

Phoenix looked around the room, letting go of the pillowcase and leaving the stuck bodies in it.  “Yes,” she said slowly.  “I think he did.”

“How did he do that?” Medusa asked, her black eyes wide.

Her mother sucked in her lips, “I don’t know,” she finally replied.  Standing up, she said, “Come on, let’s go find the others.”

They weren’t difficult to find, they were all by a giant monster, a fully grown squirrelanoid, she presumed.  Splinter was looking down at it, and at everyone else, with his eyebrows drawn together.  The kids were all standing a little off from the wall, expectant looks on their faces.  Eliza was vomiting into a wastebasket.

The panic came back.  “Oh, Eliza!”  The healer pushed a turtle, she couldn’t tell which one, out of the way and sank down beside the ferret-woman and put her hand on her back gently.  She dry heaved into the half-filled wastebasket.

“Where’s the squirrelanoids?” Raph asked.

“Diced up in a pillowcase,” Medusa answered, her arms still wrapped around her stomach.

“Not those ones,“ Raph snapped.  “Those ones,” he pointed at Eliza.

“What ones?!” Phoenix raised herself up on her knees, her green eyes wide.

“The ones that infected Mrs. V,” Donnie said.  He glanced into the bucket.  Phoenix had to give him props for that, usually she was the only one checking out the bucket.  “But she didn’t expel them.”  He put the funny goggles on his head down over his eyes.  “Could you move the wastebasket, please?”  he asked.

Phoenix took a hold of it before Eliza could move it.  The ferret glared at her, as if to say, “I’m not an invalid.”  The little woman stared back, as if to reply, “I’m not one to be glared at.”  She was tired of being glared at by mutants who could squish her with their pinkies.  She wasn’t a child.  She wasn’t incompetent.  She wasn’t…

_He_ wasn’t looking at Eliza’s stomach.

“They’re still there!” he moaned, pushing up the goggles.

Phoenix looked from the boy to the woman, back to the boy.  Didn’t he know anything about ferret anatomy?  He seemed to in the little make shift hospital room.   “Her stomach is here,” she pointed to where the organ would be located, slightly below her left breast near her sternum.  “That,” she pointed down, “is a different organ altogether unrelated.”

Donnie stared at her blankly, then put the goggles back over his eyes.  Looking down, he then tore them off, and his green scales began to take on a reddish hue.  “Oh!” he said, his brown eyes wide.

“What’s going on?” Gwyn asked, edging in her mother, grasping her shoulder.  ’What’s the matter?”

* * *

 

Eliza felt more than wrung out as she endued the dry heaves that still insisted that she had something left to give in her stomach. She was vaughly aware of the soothing circles someone was rubbing on her back and when she blinked away the tears was not surprised to see the Pheonix at her side.

She couldn’t believe that the kids had freakin slipped her something. _Who did they think they were!_ Donatello may think of himself as the family’s doctor but that gave him no right to make decisions for her. Or her daughter, for that matter, thinking about his nearly catastrophic call to keep Gwyn in the lower tunnels. She felt the clenching in her stomach cease and leaned back to rest her head against the cool concrete wall, hands still clutching the bucket with her once lovely dinner in it. That was another point of annoyance. She hadn’t had such a diverse meal in ages and to have it literally go to waste was a crime.

She was still caught up in her annoyance when Donnie asked for the bucket to be moved and glared at the owner of the hand grasping it from her, who just happened to belong to Phoenix. She wasn’t really mad at the woman but the responding look of agitation only heightened her own frustration. It seemed they were now both in a justifiably fowl mood.

This entire day was such a rollercoaster and she was officially done with it. She was exhausted and sore in both body and soul. She closed her eyes, escaping the healer’s annoyed gaze and tried to block out the pain that was seeping into her tired and abused frame. She managed it for a few precious moments until she focused on the conversation that Phoenix and Donatello were having, with her as their visual aid.  

Her eyes shot open just in time to catch the lanky turtle blush and start to fidget. _Damn the boy and his big brain. He knows._ The thought sent ice through her veins. She deflected her daughter’s questioning. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. Let’s go.” Using the wall as brace she attempted to stand but faltered. Her knees didn’t want to support her. She couldn’t tell if it was the result of her encounter with the squirrelanoid or her nerves, shear determination and the desire to flee from her embarrassment brought the ferret shakily to her feet.  

The room seemed frozen as everyone’s eye’s fell on her. Her first halting step changed that as the floor rose to meet her quickly. Before she even realized that she wouldn’t recover from the stumble on her own she found herself supported. Phoenix had an arm wrapped around her waist while Splinter was facing her, propping her shoulders up, his eyes boring straight into her soul, full of questions.

Eliza pulled away from him, not willing to be under his scrutiny. She draped an arm around Phoenix’s slight shoulders and used the woman to balance herself, knowing from experience that the healer was stronger than she appeared, till Eliza felt more stable. Even then she didn’t release the woman but clung to her as a totem against all the silent questions floating in the room.  

She turned towards her room and took a couple of steps with her human crutch at her side, as the rustle of the rest of the spectators breaking free of their surprised silence started to flutter around her. She noticed that April had come to stand next to a still flustered Donatello, she held the goggles to her face with one hand while the other shielded her mouth as she attempted to whisper to Donnie conspiratorially. Humans always seem forget how keen a mutant’s hearing was.

“Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?”

For some reason the teens tone, a combination of judgement and disbelief snapped the very last of Eliza’s nerves. “What April. What exactly do you ‘think’ you see.”

The girl stepped back at the venom in the ferret’s voice, dropping the goggles from her face and placed a hand on Donnie’s shell, almost as he could sheild her as she stammered. “I… I…”

“Mrs. VonHertz,” Splinter’s commanding voice entered the conversation. “You need too…”

“No! No.” Eliza stiffened and snaked her head to the side so that Splinter had a clear view of her profile and barred fangs. “You do NOT get to tell me what I NEED. My life debt does not include you telling me what I need or what I must or must not do.” She snarled at him. “Not anymore. I don’t belong to you Yoshi.” She turned back to the sciencey duo. “What. Did. You. See.”

“Ahh… t… t… two.” Apparently April’s normal teenage cheekiness had retreated in the face of Eliza’s hormonal rage. Donatello came to her rescue.

“Two tailed mammalian skeletons, exactly what we were expecting to see. Only…” Donnie swallowed heavily, the movement of his Adam’s apple prominent on his long neck. “only… lower in the abdominal cavity. Where the re… re… reproductive organs generally reside.”

“A popular term is ‘womb’, Donatello. And if your medical textbooks haven’t told you how things come to reside there I’m sure your Father will be happy to fill in the blanks.” Eliza straightened and addressed the empty space in front of her. “There is nothing to worry about. I’m not infected. I’m just…” Now it was time for Eliza to swallow heavily, “pregnant.”

Her declaration seemed to bounce off the walls even though she had spoken quietly at the end. All her anger and bravado drained out of her leaving the ferret-woman even more weakened than before. She slumped against Phoenix and she let her muzzle hang down towards the healer’s ear. “Help me to my room. I’m tired.”

The small woman squeezed her gently as sign of comfort and Eliza felt some of the creeping shame being held at bay as they moved away from the stunned group.


	7. Chapter 7

Eliza was not a lightweight in any sense of the word, but then, neither was Phoenix, despite her small size.  She was able to prop up the ferret mutant, but was surprised when her friend did not release her after gaining her footing again.  She felt her fur bristle when Splinter’s voice called her name, and then the woman began to vibrate in rage.  Her high voice blasted into the hallway, so that Phoenix had to work to not give in her fight or flight response.  When Eliza turned her, physically, and leaned down to her ear, she could not help but squeeze her in comfort.  It was obvious that the ferret woman had all she could take for the day.   Phoenix couldn’t blame her.  It has been quite a day.  
  
Eliza’s declaration that she did not belong to the rat was disconcerting.   That indicated a dynamic that was not going to be easy to work around.  Of course, she could, and would if Eliza wanted her to, work around it.  No, she wouldn’t work around it.  She would barrel through it.   The rat might think himself mighty, but powerful things come in small packages.  
  
Yoshi.   That is a pretty name to go with his pretty eyes.  Too bad his personality isn’t as pretty, she mused.     
  
“Where’s your room?” she asked softly.  Eliza pointed with her muzzle to a door.  
  
Medusa was suddenly at the other side of the ferret, her black eyes filled with worry.  “Do you need me to carry you?” she asked.  
  
Her sudden movement had obviously set off Eliza’s fight or flight response, she bristled again and properly bared her fangs.  The display seemed to have no effect on the snake, she had no need, in her own mind, to be frightened of her.  It was a display, as all of them displayed, and nothing more.  Eliza dropped her shoulders and shook her head.   
  
“Go find your brothers,” her mother told her softly.  “They and the other two turtles might need help.”  
  
Medusa nodded, wincing and putting her hand her side.   
  
“Be careful with that,” her mother warned, the doctor’s voice coming out.  
  
Medusa clicked her tongue, and then was gone.  She was going to have to have a talk with that girl about her attitude when they got home.  
  
She opened the door, and lead Eliza into the bedroom.   Setting her on the bed, she got another whiff of herself, and winced.  If she smelled this bad to herself, she must absolutely reek to everyone else.  “What can I do for you?” she asked, closing the door behind her.

* * *

Eliza felt the bare mattress slump underneath her and the promise of rest was too tempting to ignore. She swung her legs up and brought them towards her chest, it helped to stretch and ease her various sore spots. She grabbed a purple unicorn from the small assortment of plushies piled at the head of the bed and hugged it to her chest. “Do you know of a nice hole I could crawl in and die?”

The small woman laughed and sat on the edge of the bed in the void created by the ferret’s curled body. “You’re already in the sewers. Don’t think I could find one much deeper.” She laughed lightly as she stroked the side of Eliza’s face and the ferret leaned into the comforting touch.

Eliza smiled but the amusement didn’t reach her eyes. She groaned and buried her face into the unicorn’s felt mane. “What is wrong with me? I didn’t mean to snap like that.” She lamented but it was quickly colored by annoyance. “Damn that boy and his gadgets. I’M barely coming to terms with this, now everyone else knows too.” She took a staggered breath and huffed it out again.

Phoenix was silent for several moments while she continued to pet the miserable woman. “But at least there is no more reason to hide.” Eliza just groaned in response not lifting her head till she felt a scritch behind her ears. “It’ll be okay and you’ve got me and my family to back you up now.” Phoenix smiled with a glint in her eyes. “You’re going to need it. Did you hear what he said?”

Eliza just frowned as she tried to replay the conversation. It was all a blur wrapped in a whirlwind of emotions and she was unable to figure out what the healer was alluding too. She looked at her friend in confusion. The small woman held up two fingers in a peace sign and wiggled them.

It took a moment for the clue to click into place but when it did Eliza’s eyes widened and her throat went dry. She swallowed thickly but it brought her no relief. “I think I need a drink.”

* * *

Phoenix stood up and went over to the dresser in the room, where a pitcher of water and two drinking glasses sat on a tray.  Eliza looked like a child, curled up on the bed with the unicorn toy.  Her own children had done the same thing on at least one occasion.   “Don’t worry about him,” she said. Though, she could now see  _why_  she was worried about the rat.  His presence was overwhelming, to the point of being frightening.  She took the lid off of the old, avocado Tupperware pitcher.   That Eliza had announced that she was not his property spoke volumes to the little healer.  He definitely saw Eliza as under his authority, that much was very clear.  In what capacity, Phoenix couldn’t say.  It seemed like something in between an object and a child.  She turned with a harvest gold plastic glass in her hand.   “I can take care of what he throws out,” she assured her.  “If I can’t, then Medusa can.”    She winked.

Eliza didn’t seem to be in a laughing mood, because the look on her face didn’t change when she took the glass.  _That went over like a lead balloon,_ Phoenix thought.  “I want to disappear,” the ferret said, bringing the cup to her lips.

The human put her hand on Eliza’s back again, and began to run in circles.  “There isn’t any need to,” she said, remembering their conversation from earlier in the day.  “You haven’t done anything wrong.  And we have a lot of information to work with now,” she said.  “We know that they’re ferrets.” , She smiled hugely, eyes shining.   “And that there’s two!”

“There’s two,” Eliza repeated.

“You’re having twins,” she said, her eyes excited.  “That’s a good thing!”

* * *

 _Twins_  the word bounced around inside her head and she took another sip of water to avoid talking. She knew that Phoenix expected some kind of positive response. The woman was practically buzzing with excitement about the prospect. She had to find something to say. “Well..” she hemmed. “at least they’ll have each other to play with.” Her voice rose with affected positivity. “Right? And that’s a good thing! Gwyn was always in need of playdates cause she didn’t have any siblings.” She was actually smiling now. “But I won’t have to worry about that. Good thing too, cause it’s not like they can play with… other… kids…”

Phoenix took her free hand in both of her smaller ones. “They will be beautiful. Like their mother.”

Eliza gave her a small look of gratitude. “Its just so much to take in. What should I do now? Even…” she hiccuped, feeling the return of tears. “…even if Donnie could change me back… they will always be,” she struggled to find the right word. “different. What does that mean for me? For Gwyn?” She put the glass down and laid her hand on her stomach. “For all of us?”

* * *

Eliza’s despair came through loud and clear, she was not as happy to have this miracle happening to her as Phoenix and her family were.  “I can’t say,” she said, still holding the ferret’s hand in hers.  “There are all kinds of choices you can make, none of which you have to make at the moment.”

The doctor in her began to check off what the possible choices might be.  She could leave things as they are and change nothing.  She could change residences and decide to stay with her and her family at the Haunted Warehouse.  She could stay with The Grey Cats.  She could find a place of her own and stay there.  She had money to spend, it still amazed The Phoenix.  Real money, to spend in a grocery store.  She’d felt so out of place in that pharmacy buying that pregnancy test that started all of this.   Changing back to human was not an option, was never an option, despite what the brainy turtle teen had promised Eliza.   And the babies…the babies were little ferrets.

Baby ferret mutants!!

“At the moment, you just need to know how to handle this moment.”  She caught another whiff of herself, and winced.  “You do not need to explain anything to anyone,” she assured her.  “You do not need to make apologies for anything.  You haven’t done anything wrong.”  She looked the ferret in the eyes intensely.  “You-haven’t-done-anything-wrong,” she repeated, each word getting the same emphasis.

“However,” she went on, “Mr. Thump-his-tail considers you part of his sphere of influence.”  Her voice softened then, remembering Eliza pressed against him, and the rat’s hesitation.  “I don’t think he means it meanly, our world…”  She dropped her hands and slumped her shoulders, suddenly feeling very tired.  “Our world is very different than up there,” she gestured vaguely above her.  “He seems to be trying very hard to keep you safe.”   _If he went about it in a nicer manner, that might help his case some,_  she couldn’t help but think.  

* * *

Despite her very existence going through a pivotal shift in perspective Eliza couldn’t help but laugh in tiny bursts, between wiping her tears away, at Phoenix’s title for Splinter. “Tail thumping really bother you that much?” Eliza twitched her own teasingly but was careful to keep it flat against the mattress, so that it could not be officially labeled as a ‘thump’.

“You have no idea.” The small woman deadpanned.

Eliza gave a few subdued chuckles under her breath before a final settling sigh. “He has keep us safe.” Eliza said addressing the healers last point. “I owe him our lives, the same as I owe Gwyn’s to his sons the night they found us in that alley. And despite how I have acted tonight, I really have been trying to show my gratitude for that. But, well, he just has this expectation of something that seems to elude me. He doesn’t openly criticize how I contribute and shows at least a degree of thankfulness at my efforts. Yet sometimes I just feel like he’s… he’s…” Eliza shrugged in defeat. “Oh I don’t know how to put it. Like he’s evaluating me while keeping me an arm’s length away but close enough to snatch back. I get the impression that Splinter finds me lacking and dangerous all at the same time.”

Phoenix looked contemplative. “In our world,” she paused clearly looking for the correct phrasing. “it is not easy to open up to others, especially not our homes. That this man has sheltered you and your daughter shows that he is not ALL bad, poor tail manners aside. Beyond that…” Phoenix shrugged and let the rest go unsaid. “This is a hard life Eliza, it breeds hard people. We take pleasures and trials as they come, with no expectation that the former will be lasting or that the latter is ever very far away. But, ” she looked the the ferret in the eye and smiled. “it is still a good life. One worth living to its fullest. Especially when you have people in it that you can call family, no matter how they come to you.”

Eliza absorbed the words and tried to think on them but her head space was just too full at the moment. She would have to ponder on them latter. For now she was just tired. She shifted so that she could rest her head on Phoenix’s lap. “You let me in your home.”

Phoenix laughed. “Trust me, it is not all that common. You just happened to get a golden ticket.”

“I didn’t get my everlasting gobstopper though.”

The smaller woman laughed. “Maybe next time.”

They fell into a companionable silence, each consumed with their own thoughts.  

“Phoenix.”

“Hmmm?”

"I’m afraid to say this but…”

The healer petted Eliza’s head softly. “You can tell me. You have no reason to hesitate to tell me anything.” she encouraged.

The ferret paused for a second longer before crinkling her muzzle. “You really stink.”

* * *

Phoenix laughed through her weariness and shook her head, though her face slowly became more and more red, with only the two scars on her temples remaining white.  “I was wondering how long you were going to be able to stay down there,” she said.  “I can smell myself, and I still.  You must think I absolutely reek.”

Eliza sat up, her muzzle still wrinkled.  “You need to get clean,” she said.

“What?” the small woman said playfully.  “I don’t look good in mucus and vomit?”  She pulled her shirt away from her and is made a crunching sound, letting out an even greater acrid smell.  “Mon dieu!” she stood up.  “Gah, that’s bad!”

It was Eliza’s turn to laugh, though hers sounded tired too.  “No,” she shook her head.  “You don’t.”

“You need a bath,” the ferret said, twisting herself on the bed so she was sitting upright like a human.  

Phoenix looked at the door.  “You’re going to send me out there to Mr. Thump-his-tail to use his bathroom to take a bath all by myself?”  Her eyes twinkled and her smile was cheeky.  She was good at getting her patients to feel better, it was part of her job, even if doing so was derisive to herself.  Seeing Eliza smile made her feel like she’d accomplished something.  A rare feeling in the roller coaster that had been today.


	8. Chapter 8

Still smiling Eliza stood and crossed to the dresser before kneeling to pull out the bottom drawer and rummage through it. “Hopefully he has found something else to occupy himself with by now other than lurking in bathrooms. Ah hA! Here it is.” Eliza pulled a white summer dress, patterned with small blue and yellow flowers, free from the drawer and shook it from its folds with a flourish.

She twisted and looked at Phoenix appraisingly and frowned. She was sure the garment would work well enough in the size department, though it may fall a bit short, only to mid-thigh, it was hard to tell, but the style did not seem to fit the person she had come to see the Phoenix as. Well there was not much to done about that for the moment. The seamstress in her was begging to pull out her tape and take the small woman’s measurements so she could make the proper alterations but she squashed the impulse. She distracted herself by browsing through the drawers and suitcases stacked about the room, slowly adding to the ensemble. In the end she had a neat pile consisting of a pair of stretch leggings, designed to look like jeans, a cream-colored open crocheted sweater, white socks and some intimates that she had no clue whether they would be suitable or not but included nonetheless.

She returned to the small woman and nodded towards the door. “Come on. I may as go with you anyway. The laundry basket is still in there and I need to make the bed before I crash into it.” Eliza smiled but couldn’t dispel the tiredness that had consumed her frame. She just needed to keep going a little bit longer, if she stopped now she knew that she wouldn’t get up again. Only the need to see Phoenix more comfortable (and less smelly) had propelled her off the bed in the first place.

“You don’t need to bother. I can just…” Phoenix said, bringing her out of her musings.

“Oh yes I do.” Eliza interrupted in a good natured tone. “You took care of me today and though this may not be my home, you are still my guest. Let’s get you a nice hot bath, the pipes should be ready for another draw by now, and while you soak I’ll start the laundry.”

* * *

“Laundry?”  Phoenix shook her head, as if she heard Eliza wrong.  “Soak?  In the tub?”

Soaking…in a tub…full of hot water… _ hot water.   _

“Laundry?” she said again, “What laundry?”  She was positive that she recalled Eliza saying she had just done the laundry, hadn’t she handed her a laundry basket full of clothes?

“You don’t seriously think I’m going to send you home with dirty clothes do you?” She laughed as she placed her hand on the door knob. “Plus I have Gwyn’s outfit to clean too. I’m not going to have them fermenting any longer than necessary. It won’t take long to do those few things by hand and then let the dryer finish the job.” Eliza swung the door open and stepped into the hall. Leaving no room for objection.

The small healer watched her walk out, her tail swishing sassily.  She was swishing her tail…sassily.  The Phoenix felt like she’d fallen into some sort of Twilight Zone episode, where all the roles were reversed, it felt disconcerting.  When she saw that Eliza truly meant what she said, and was walking down the hall toward the bathroom, she hurried after her, grateful no one was in the hallway.

“You don’t have to wash my things,” she insisted.  It seemed too intimate an act for her, having someone wash her items, by hand.  No one had washed her things in almost 20 years, save her children.  Even then, it was only sporadic, despite the supposed distribution of chores.

* * *

Eliza paused just outside the bathroom door. She was surprised but grateful that no one had waited to assault them with questions. Especially her daughter. But knowing Gwyn she had gone off to find physical comfort from someone, her guess at this point was most likely April. A twinge of guilt flowed through her, she should have been the one to comfort the girl. Right now she was not really in the right frame of mind, so perhaps the distance was better for them both.

The Phoenix’s protest hit her ears as she entered the bathroom and she waited till the small woman had entered the privacy of the bathroom and had closed the door after her before answering. “Why? I have to do it anyway? Might as well make the load worth the work.” She thought for a moment more, trying to understand the hesitation. “I mean even if you want to leave before they are dry it will be easier to have them clean at least. Right?”

Phoenix shook her head,  the look on the ferret’s face pulling at her.   She could see she was at the edge of making a mistake.   "No,“ she assured her.   No,  it’s alright.   I just didn’t want to put you through the trouble… ”  Why was this so hard?   Would she not have offered,  no insist, on the same thing had their positions been reversed?

* * *

Eliza gave a soft smile as she ushered Phoenix back towards the tub area. “No trouble at all.”

The ferret placed the clothes she had picked out on the chair and pulled a fresh towel from the linen shelf along with a washclothe. She then started the bath giving a testing pass before pulling her hand away from the overly hot water. “Ouch. The heater is running on overtime.” She looked back a her friend and waived her over. “You’re going to have to keep an eye on it if you want a bath instead of a stewpot.” After one last adjustment to the hot and cold taps she went to the other side of the curtain to retrieve a tin basin and some cleaning supplies.

“I’m just going to work over here.” she pointed to a shower stall that had a flexible hose head. “Let me know when I can grab your things.” she turned her back to give the woman a pretense of privacy.

* * *

She was going to have to watch the hot water?   The heater was working overtime?   These are words that were no longer in her vocabulary.   She knew then each individually,  but strung together they seemed to make no sense to get brain.

“Ok,” she muttered, staring at the tub.

It took her a moment to realize that she needed to take her clothes off in order to get on the tub and have Eliza wash them.  She hadn’t taken her clothes off with another adult present in almost 20 years.   She hadn’t taken them off on front of anyone for at least 5.  She never had any reason to.

_ It’s a body,  and not all that and a bag of chips,  either, she thought, so what’s the problem?   You have no problem with other people’s bodies. _

_ Their bodies aren’t covered in scars _ ,  she answered herself.

She began to strip,  her shirt making a crunching noise as she did so.  Her size,  or lack thereof,  became more apparent to her with each layer taken off.   With her clothes on a neat pile on the floor,  she stood in the tub, and gasped when she had both feet in.

She was standing in hot water!

* * *

Eliza was retrieving the pile of Gwyn’s clothes that she had tossed to the tiled area earlier when she heard the splash and gasp behind her. “You okay?” She asked without turning. She received no answer and after a weighted silence couldn’t help herself and turned to check on her friend.

Phoenix was just standing in the tub, her back towards Eliza. The ferret couldn’t help the quick glance she gave her but then turned her gaze politely to the floor. Phoenix was even smaller than she had estimated. She approached and busied herself with scooping up the discarded clothes. Not able to keep her muzzle from wrinkling. 

Glancing up again she took note that Phoenix was still standing silently in the slowly filling tub. She chuckled and said lightly. “You know, baths usually work better when you sit in them.”

* * *

“Yes,” Phoenix answered, almost hypnotically.  “They do.”  She lowered her body slowly, as if she were scared the water would suddenly turn into poison.  Once she’d sat in it, she let out a sound that was uncomfortably erotic, in between a moan and a sigh, and sank into the tub, closing her eyes.

She was soaking in hot water.  She reached over and turned the water on hotter, watching the steam drift up from the tap as if she were watching a miracle.

* * *

Eliza heard the contentment practically oozing out of her friend and smiled. Thinking back to the healers home she had only seen a shower in the bathroom and perhaps she had not had the chance for a soak in a while. That she was able to offer such a simple thing gave her a warm feeling in her heart.

She went back to her basin and started about her work. She set water to a moderate temperature so that she could allow the garments to soak and agitated them to remove the ‘chunckier’ bits. She tipped the quickly fouled water out and repeated the process adding a measure of laundry soap and going to work with her handled scrub brush on the more stubborn portions.

Eliza laundered and Phoenix soaked. The silence was peaceful and easy between them but eventually the thoughts in the ferrets head demanded to be voiced. “Donnie… he said he could see skeletons. Skeletons big enough to be mistaken for squirrels” Eliza said out of the blue. “Is that normal for just over 10 weeks?” To Eliza that level of development seemed a bit advanced.

* * *

Phoenix had been watching the steam rise around her, like she was in dream, when Eliza’s voice drifted through it, like a ghost through a fog.  “No,” she said thoughtfully to the mist.  “Not in a human pregnancy.  It would still just be…” be a what?  “Be a little fetus.”

The doctor kicked in, if she was ten weeks pregnant, and already the babies had skeletons that identified them as ferrets, that would mean…”It looks like your pregnancy is closer to a ferret’s than to a human,” her voice was soft, as if the mist would carry it to the mother-to-be and not the air in between them.

* * *

“humph.” She took a moment to process that thought. She felt almost a relieved detachment at the revelation. She had loved being pregnant with Gwyn, but that had been in another life with much different circumstances. Without a partner to share the anticipation and joy, perhaps it was better that the pregnancy would not be drawn out. “I guess that would explain how touchy I’ve been. Hormones.” she spat almost derisively as she scrubbed a pant leg a little harder than necessary.

“You know,” she said softly, “I didn’t show with my daughter till I was nearly 7 months.” she laughed at herself. “I had plenty of pudge so that most people couldn’t even tell till they felt her kicking. I wonder when these ones will start moving?” 

* * *

“They’re moving now, if they have a fully formed skeleton,” Phoenix answered with her eyes closed and her head leaning back against the tub.  “And there is less room in there, than if there was just one…”  Two, Eliza was going to have two babies!  Two babies!  There were going to be two babies!!!

The relaxation of the tub disappeared as excitement began to bubble up in her again.  Opening her eyes, she saw her skin was a shade of red that hadn’t happened to her a long, long time.  She reached for the soap.  “Eliza,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm.  “You have less time than we thought.  You have to decide what you’re going to do…”  She was going to have two babies!!!!  That’s what she was going to do!

* * *

Eliza left her scrubbing and placed a sodden hand on her torso. She pushed past her layer of fat, searching for some outward manifestation of what she knew was happening inside her. After a moment she was ready to give up when she found a hardness that she knew was not normal. Her body was made up of squishy curves, with her most defined muscle groups being her legs and back, appropriate for someone used to doing the manual labor within a house, of lifting and cleaning and other such errands. This small pocket of unyielding flesh was a true confirmation that someth… someone was growing inside her, helped the reluctant remnants of her mind dissipate.

“Well, I guess the first thing is to swipe one of those sets of goggles.” She looked over her shoulder at Phoenix and gave a shy smile. “I told you the boy was a genius, even if the revelation was ill timed. But it will help us monitor them as they grow. Maybe get a better clue of when exactly they will be due. As for the rest…” Eliza let out a sigh and dumped the basin again, filling it to rinse the clothes of their sudsy residue. “I will have to see just how worn out my welcome is here, but looking for a private place, like we talked about, might be the next order of business.” The ferret looked at her again. “If you’re still willing to that is.” 


	9. Chapter 9

Phoenix beamed as she moved the soap from her rosy body to her no longer rosy hair.  “Of course I am!” she assured her.  “I have that entire empty warehouse.  You could be on another floor, and it would be like an apartment building.  Or you could have one of the warehouses close by, and it could be like you live in a mansion.  Or we can find you some place small and cozy in one of the abandoned sections of the city.  There are a lot of them–”

She stopped her prattling and put the soap down.  “Unfortunately,” she said with a more somber voice.  Was she so uncivilized that she was excited about empty places?  “There are a lot of them.”

* * *

“You are kind to offer, but I don’t think I could go too far from here,” Eliza mused, “we… I mean, Gwyn, has grown attached. I would hate to move her away from friends, again.” She drained the clothes for a last time started to wring out the excess.

“I didn’t think that New York would have so many empty spaces. But,” she looked up towards the ceiling longingly as if she could see the surface. “it would be nice to find a place to be in the sun again.” She went back to her task with gusto. “Maybe a place in between here and your warehouse. Once the babies get here we can see how things go from there.”

Eliza gathered up the damp but clean clothes. “I’m gonna to get these in the dryer.” She left the shower area and pulled the curtain shut on her way out. “Be back in a sec.” she called before exiting the bathroom and leaving Phoenix momentarily alone. 

* * *

The small woman dunked her head down in the hot water to rinse it, staying underneath for quite a while.  The hot liquid around her head felt sweet and calm.   _We…have grown attached_ , Eliza had said.   _You need to watch your mouth, girl,_  she told herself, swaying her head from side to side to let her hair wave in the water.  _People don’t appreciate it when you speak ill of the people they are attached to._   The image of Eliza pressed against the rat mutant, his hesitation when there was none before she had implored him, came to mind again.  _No more insulting Mr. Tail-Thumper,_  she admonished.    _At least in front of anyone._

She emerged from the water, clean and very pink.  Standing up, she reached for the towel that Eliza had left her, the water being hot enough that the cold of the room did not hit her at all.   She dried herself off, donned her borrowed clothes, and toweled her hair a little more.

Should she go out of the bathroom and try and find someone?  Should she wait for Eliza to come back?  This sort of thing was out of even her league, who prepares manners for being vomited on by children because they have mutant squirrels growing in their stomachs?

She decided she would wait, just for a moment or two, with the excuse that she wanted to make sure her hair was not dripping.

* * *

The door opened and caused the closed curtain to sway slightly with the draft.

“Eliza” Phoenix called into the space, her voice echoing slightly off the tiles.

“No, Mrs. VonHertz is otherwise occupied at the moment.” Splinter stood by the curtain, his shadow casting on its rippling surface. “Ms. Phoenix, if you have a moment, I would speak with you.” 

* * *

Ask the Universe provides.   _Now you get to practice being nice,_  she said.  She came out from behind the curtain, feeling rather foolish in the clothes she was wearing, now that someone could see them.  She kept the towel, and used it to continue to dry her hip length hair, more as an emotional shield than anything else.

“It isn’t Ms,” she said, shaking her head, “Phoenix isn’t my–”  She stopped and took a deep breath.  “Just Phoenix.”  She bit her lip, “Mr…?”  What was she supposed to call this man?

* * *

“Splinter,” he smiled just a bit as he gave the small woman a slight nod of his head, “just Splinter.” He paused and tried to collect his thoughts, years of practice schooling his features had evaded him earlier and he was now at a detriment. Stress was no excuse for a master.

“I would like to know how long you have been acquainted with Mrs. VonHertz. She had not mentioned your association before now and I can only surmise that it is because of her…” Splinter swallowed briefly, still shocked at the news and not quite comfortable with saying it out loud. “…condition.”

* * *

She took another deep breath, the man was not making it easy.  Her first instinct was to reply, “What business is it of yours how long I have been associated with Mrs. Von Hertz?” Her second inclination was to inform him that pregnancy was not a condition, and have birthed two children herself, she took a rather great offence it being referred to as such.

But she didn’t say any of those things.  After a pause that she knew was too long to be polite, she looked away from him, and then back at him.  “For about a week,” she answered.  “And no, we are not acquainted because she is pregnant.”  She emphasized the last word.  “We are acquainted because she was going for a walk and hit her head.”   

* * *

Splinter straighten and inhaled deeply. “The sakura blossoms.” he muttered under his breath. He had suspected that Elizabeth had gone above that night. He cursed himself for letting her storm off as she had without following her now. But her outburst had been so atypical of her usual demeanor that he thought best to give her some room. Apparently this had been an error on his part.

“I had warned her that she was not prepared for the surface.” he said then remembered he was not alone. “We were very worried when she was found missing that morning. I was not aware she was injured.  But I am glad that she found assistance.”

He looked over the woman again. “In more ways than one it seems.”

* * *

“She seemed fine to go on the surface,” Phoenix assured him, her prickles getting up.  “She was not prepared to not be able to fit through the manhole.”  She paused, toweling her hair again.  He was trying to be civil, and he was kind to Eliza and her daughter, when he didn’t have to be.  She had not been lying when she had said that him taking them in was no small feat of trust and compassion in this world they resided.  She needed to extend the same to this man in front of her.  Why he rankled her so, she wasn’t sure.  “She wasn’t very hurt,” she explained.  “She tumbled out of the hole and went rolling.  She would have been fine without me.  We just happened to be in the same place at the same time.”

* * *

Splinter nodded and worried his beard at bit. It was a simple meeting, but he was more worried that Elizabeth had felt the need to hide this from him. But that was something he would address with her later. “I see.”

“What concerns me more now, Phoenix,” he stated in an almost contemplative fashion. “is that you now know of my family’s location and who you may be inclined to share that information with.” The words were delivered as softly as if carried on butterflies wings but fell like an iron gate.

* * *

Phoenix’s patience wore out.  “And why,” she asked, inclining her head to the side and donning a nasty smile, “would I be inclined to share the location of your home with anyone?”   _What a conceited ass!  Who in the blue blazes cares where he lives?  He lives in the sewers, for Pete’s sake!_

* * *

“My sons have told me of your encounters with them. Both as allies and enemies.” He worked hard to keep his voice even. “Surely, you can understand that I wish to know of a surety how our clans stand with each other.”

Splinter took a breath and tried to keep fears of the past from creeping to the forefront of his mind. “Elizabeth was sought by the kraang once, and I would derelict in my duty if I were to entrust her care to someone who lead them back to her. What are your intentions, Phoenix. Mine are to protect my home and clan.”

* * *

Phoenix could feel her cheeks getting redder as the rat mutant talked, and she knew her eyes were not showing the kindness she had promised they would when she’d removed the curtain.  Your sons attacked us, she wanted to interrupt him.  _What kind of surety are you looking for?  Aren’t we being all formal, clans is it?  Who calls their family a clan?_

But as soon as he mentioned the Kraang, her anger drained from her, and her hard looks was replaced with one laced with fear.  She would not sick the Kraang on anyone, even her worst enemies.  Her hand, without her knowing, brushed one of the scars at her temples.  “I don’t have any intentions,” she said in a far away voice.

* * *

Splinter felt a shift in the atmosphere of the room. He looked at the woman and noticed that she had shrunk in on herself, a feat not quite believable given her already diminutive size. His hand went to his beard again. “Perhaps, Donatello was correct after all.” he mused softly.

“You aren’t with the Kraang are you?”

* * *

Phoenix’s far away look blinked away and replaced by one of utter surprise.  “What?” she asked, as if he’d just ask her whether she would prefer castor oil or chocolate.  Had he just asked her what she thought he asked her?  No, she had to have misheard him.  “What?” she said again.

* * *

Being a father of four boys who tended to try to hide their many indiscretions, both small and large, had made him adept in reading the difference between genuine shock and false airs put on to hide something that would get them in trouble.

This woman was not hiding.

He was a fool.

“I think perhaps I have made a miscalculation. My family has many enemies but I do not think you and your children need be included among them. My sons thought that you were working with the Kraang aliens, who we have pledged to purge from this world. I see that this is not the case.” He bowed at the waist to her, though he still did not bring his head below her own. “I owe you an apology.”

* * *

Her mouth hung open as he spoke, like he was saying something in a babble.  “Your _sons,_ ” she said, as if his last sentence had never been uttered, “attacked  _us._   For no reason.”  Her voice broke, and tears filled her eyes.  “And the lot of you think  _we_  are with the Kraang?”  She dropped the towel, her hands fisted at her sides.  “Your mutation was obviously an accidental one,” her voice was little more than a high pitched growl.  “The marring of what little beauty I had, wasn’t.”  She pulled at the collar of her dress, to reveal two matching round scars, identical to the ones on her temples, just below her collarbone on either side.

* * *

Splinter straightened at the harsh tone and flipped his ears back instinctively to protect his sensitive hearing as the woman’s volume increased. He was tempted to defend his children’s actions. They had encountered these people seemingly protecting a Kraang warehouse. They were young and had acted based on the information they had at the time. He could tell though that such an argument would not be well received. So he found his center and let her words flow around him.

As Phoenix pulled her collar and flashed her scars he felt a well of remorse fill within him. He had no words to respond. Still he consciously softened his features, his ears unfurled and attentive. He spoke softly when he finally found his voice. “I… I did not know.”

* * *

She blinked as his ears softened, her eyes travelling to just above his head, and then back to his own eyes.  The blink caused two tears of rage to spill from her eyes, but his words made the indignation drain from her, like the water from the bathtub.  How would he know?  There was no way he could.  And here she was, taking out some unknown anger on him.  She shook her head, and wiped her eyes with her hand.  “You couldn’t know,” she tried to sound nonchalant.  “And it was a long time ago, so it doesn’t matter.”

* * *

“Even an old wound, can still bleed fresh.” He said even as his head drifted in the direction of the family shrine. “But perhaps we can avoid adding to them.” There was still so much that he needed to know from this woman. Now that he knew that she and her family were not a threat to his family the predicament of Mrs. VonHertz came back to his mind. Yet he could sense that their truce was still very tender.

What better way to seal it than with a drink. “Phoenix, tell me, do you like tea?”


End file.
